in order to understand the word
of God. The Holy Spirit of God must reveal
the meaning of the word. The Bible is not like reading
any other book. The Bible is a spiritual book
with a spiritual meaning because the scripture says God is spirit. Listen to 1 Corinthians 2. Verse
13 and 14, as I read it to you, it says that the words we speak,
Paul the Apostle is writing here under inspiration of the Spirit,
and he says the words which we speak, we teach not with man's
wisdom, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual
things with spiritual. says, "...the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned or understood." Now, from a human
standpoint, there are three things that we must consider when reading
God's Word in order to begin to understand it aright. Three things we need to consider
when you read the Bible. First of all, who is speaking?
Secondly, to whom is the person speaking or writing? And thirdly,
what is the subject? There is a general subject that
is being dealt with. Great damage has been done in
misusing God's word, misapplying it, or taking things out of context. misapplying it. You see, the
word of God is written to some people, not all people. Take
the epistles, for instance. Epistles like Romans, Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, and so forth. Epistle means letter.
And the epistles are written to the churches. They're written
to believers. Let me give you an illustration.
Suppose I write a letter to my wife. And when I write that letter,
I address that letter to her, just like everyone does when
they write to someone, they address it, they begin it in this way,
dear so-and-so. So I write to my wife, whose
name is Mindy, and I say, dear Mindy. And in that letter, I
write to her, I love you and everything I have belongs to
you. I am your husband. I love you. I will provide for you. I will
never leave you and I sign it. Your loving husband, Paul. Now,
what if? Some other woman intercepted
that letter. And began to apply that letter
to herself. Just totally disregard disregarded
the address or to whom it was written and began to apply it
to herself. Well, she would not only be lying
on me, bearing false witness against me, but she would be
lying to herself. And so it is happening with God's
Word. Every epistle is addressed to
believers. It is not addressed. The Word
of God is not written to every person without exception. Do
you understand that? Well, look at Ephesians chapter
1. is a good example of what I'm saying here. In Ephesians
chapter 1, this epistle is addressed, or this letter is addressed,
to certain persons. And there's a subject that's
being dealt with. The writer of it is the Apostle Paul, but
Paul was writing under inspiration of the Spirit. No man wrote the
Scriptures, but they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All right?
This is God's work. All right, let's read it, all
right, and see what the subject is and to whom he is writing.
All right, verse 1, 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. All right, there you have who
he is writing to, to the saints at Ephesus. Now, one is a saint. Not because a man in Rome makes
him or her a saint, but because God sanctifies them. Romans 1, 7 says you're called
to be saints, called by God saints. All right? And it says to the
faithful in Christ Jesus, or those who have faith in Christ,
full of faith, faithful in Christ Jesus. All right, this is written
to believers. It's written to God's people,
not everyone, but God's people or believers. And you'll notice
little words like us and we all the way through here. Personal
pronouns is what those are. Us, we, who have blessed us,
chosen us, that we should be without blame and so forth. Personal
pronouns. which apply to certain persons. Do you understand that? I hope
you do. If not, you will not understand
this work. All right? Let's see how and
why these persons are considered God's people. All right? And
what all God promises to these persons. All right? Verse 1 says,
To the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus, He says, I'm an
apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He wasn't so by
man, made so by man. He wasn't so because he became
educated in a seminary to become an apostle. No, but by the will
of God. As everything is. God worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, and he says
to the saints and the faithful. All right, grace, he says, verse
2, grace be to you and peace. Now, remember who he's writing
to, to the saints and to those who have faith in Christ. Grace
to you and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ to you, to you saints, to you believers. Now, they are
saints and they have faith by the grace of God. Grace to you. You see, they are saints. They
are made so because God graciously made them so. They have faith
because, over in chapter 2, it says it is the gift of God. By
grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. A man doesn't
believe because he decides to. He believes because God gives
him the grace of faith. That is what Ephesians 2 says.
So they are saints because God decided to make them so. And
they have faith because God gave them faith. And he goes on to
say, Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace from God and from Christ. Now, the Scripture says that
God is angry with the wicked every day. Scripture says, God
hateth all workers of iniquity. Yes, that's persons God hates. Not just the sins, but sinners.
God punishes persons, not just sins, but persons. They're people
in hell, not just sins. All right? And it says here that
some people have peace from Jesus Christ. God declares peace for
some people. He's not angry with some people.
In fact, He loves some people. Not all, but some people. He
doesn't hate them, but loves them. He will not punish them,
but will save them. All right, why? Why do they have
peace with God or from God? Why? Because they make peace
with Him. Is that it? I'm sure you've heard
all the time, he made his peace with God. Well, let me give you
an illustration. Suppose I were to haul off and hit or strike
a man. I would just haul off and strike
a man without provocation. I hit him. And then a little
while later, I go up to him and I say, Sir, I have decided to
declare peace with you. I've decided to accept your forgiveness. Do you see? It's not within my
power to declare peace with him. He's the one who has been offended.
He's the one who has been violated. He is the one who must declare
peace. He must decide to do so. And
it is God who has been offended. It is God who has been violated,
God alone, then, must declare peace. But wait a minute. God
just can't up and forget and forgive. God must punish sin. God will punish sin. Scripture
says He will by no means clear the guilty. Well, look at chapter
2 here in Ephesians, verse 13 and 14. It says, In Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were far off. Now, remember who he's speaking
to. Not speaking to everybody. He's speaking to the saints,
he's speaking to the faithful. He says, you who were sometime
far off. And another place says aliens
and enemies. Enemies, it says, are made nigh
or brought near by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace.
In another book, it says he made peace by the blood of his cross.
You see, what God did was God killed his son instead of some
people. God killed his son instead of
killing some of us. Not all, but some. And therefore,
our sins against God, or the sins of all those whom Christ
died for, were punished. And therefore, God is at peace
with them. The sentence has been carried
out. They've been killed. in Christ, in their representative. This is all an undeserved gift.
It is the grace of God. Look at verse 3 here in Ephesians
chapter 1. So Paul says, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us. Who? He has blessed us, the saints,
the faithful. He has blessed us. these individuals
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. All these blessings from God
are to those that are in Christ, those who are found in Him, those
who are represented by Christ. How did they get in Him? How
did they get represented by Christ? Did they decide to do so? Was
this an act of their own will? Did they let Him be their peace
for them? No, look at verse 4 here. Look
at verse 4. It says, This is all according
as He hath chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him. Now, remember who the us and
who the we is. not speaking about everyone without
exception. No, he's speaking of those whom
God has called to be saints and given the grace of faith in Christ
Jesus and the name Christ came to die for and represent. All right. It says they're chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. to be holy and
without blame before God in love. All right. This is sovereign
election. That's what this is. Sovereign election. This is God
Almighty sovereignly, yes, discriminatingly choosing some persons to say. All right, let me ask you three
questions from this verse of Scripture, three questions from
God's word concerning election. Number one, did you choose God
or did he choose you if you claim to be a believer? Answer this
question from the Word of God, not from what you think, but
from the Word of God. Verse 4 says, "...according as
he hath chosen us." The second question is, when did he choose
us? When did he choose these persons?
Did he do it after they believed? Well, verse 4 here in our text
says, "...according as he hath chosen us in Christ before the
foundation of the world." before the world began. All right? The last question. Why? Why did
He choose anybody? Why did He choose us, or believers? Why? Because they're good? Because
He needs them? Because they're worth something?
No. Verse 5 says it's according to the good pleasure of His will.
Because He decided to. That's why. Verse 6 says, "...to
the praise of the glory of His grace, to the praise of His electing
grace." Verse 12 says, "...to the praise of His glory." Verse
14 says, "...to the praise of His glory." You see, salvation
is by grace. It's God choosing whom He will
and Christ doing it all for them. And salvation is for God's glory,
the glory of His grace, the glory of His mercy, the glory of His
love. You see, salvation is by grace. It's undeserved. And it's for
some. For some. God did not have to
save anyone. But He, in mercy and in grace,
chose some to save. And He gave them to Christ. And
He did just that. He saved them. Well, if you would
like a cassette tape of this message, write to us. We'll send
it to you free of charge. Until next Sunday, good day. Thank you.