When we've been there ten thousand
years Bright shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's
praise The Apostle Paul began every
one of his epistles and ended every epistle with grace. Grace be unto you. That's how
he began every single epistle and ended every single epistle
the same way. Grace. Because grace is the sum
and substance of the gospels. By grace are you saved. God's
sovereign, electing, saving, keeping, restraining, constraining
grace through the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Holy Spirit
of God. Grace, as you know, is not an
offer. Grace is an act of God. upon
us. Many people over the years have
made this statement, when I came to a knowledge of the doctrines
of grace. Well, you don't come to grace. Grace comes to you. And grace is the person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Sovereign, free grace is the
sum and substance of the gospel. Chapter 1. And you'd be amazed
how many times grace is spoken of throughout this chapter. It
says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places or things in Christ. Now, we're going to see the gift
of God, the grace of God, all through this chapter. And then
we're going to look at chapter 2. The grace of God, they're
saved by grace. And all of these things are the
blessings of God, spiritual blessings. And you know I went all the way
through Ephesians, and there's not any mention of any material
things at all, anywhere in this book. Not one mention of food
and raiment except wine says, don't be drunk with wine, but
be filled with the Spirit. He doesn't mention food and raiment
except the armor of God. So spiritual blessing. May the
Lord cause us to see how the blessing is the grace of God
bestowed upon us through Christ Jesus our Lord. And this is how
He does it. Verse 4, here's the electing
grace. according as He hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world." He chose us. We didn't choose Him. We wouldn't
have chosen Him. He chose us. This is electing
grace, sovereign electing grace. He chose whom He willed. If you
choose, it's always sovereign, isn't it? Sovereign grace. He chose us, it says, that we
should be holy. Isn't that good enough? And without
blame, before Him in love. He did this in love to us and
that we might be holy and presented to the Father faultless before
his presence and in love, in love with him and in love with
one another who were once children of wrath. Now he's going to present
us in love because he chose us. Verse 5, here's predestinating
grace, having predestinated us under the adoption of children.
You remember Brother David's message on that, don't you? Predestination,
or adoption. I heard some false woman preacher
get on the radio one time. She was trying to disprove predestination. And she said, predestination
doesn't have anything to do with people, but it's things. Well,
she does err not knowing the Scriptures because it's mentioned
four times, in all four times, are people, having predestinated
us. Verse 11, in whom we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated. That's people in Romans 8. Whom
He did foreknow, He did predestinate. It's people. He predestinated
His people to be His children. Aren't you glad? And it's a predetermined
destiny. We're going to be, we are. Behold,
now we're the sons of God. But nothing can change that.
And it's all been predetermined by our sovereign God. Aren't
you glad? That's predestinating grace.
And it's all according to the good pleasure of His will, through,
by Jesus Christ. Barnard said one time about predestinating
grace, he said God, in his old homespun way, Barnard said God
got up one morning and took one look at his son and loved him
so much that he determined to have a whole bunch of boys just
like him. Well, Planned Parenthood, you might call it, predestinated
to be his adopted children by Jesus Christ who travailed in
birth for us. Verse 6, it's all to the praise
of the glory of His grace. You see that? It's all to the
praise of His glory. Paul down in chapter 2 verse
9 said, there's no room for boasting, not of worthless any man should
boast. This is all His work from start to finish, from God who
chose us to Christ who purchased us to the Holy Spirit who brings
us. We don't have any part in it. Grace is something God does
to us and for us and in us by His sovereign power, to the praise
of the glory of His grace, accepting grace, verse 6, wherein He hath
made us accepted in the blood. There's nothing acceptable about
that by nature. But by Christ, His righteousness
imputed, we're complete in Him. We're accepted. Today's the acceptable
day of the Lord, the acceptable year of the Lord. God is accepting
all who come to Him by Jesus Christ. predestinating, accepting
grace. Here's redeeming grace, verse
7. In whom, in Christ, we have redemption. Redeeming grace. He paid the price. A ransom was
found. Scripture says, deliver them
from going down into the pit. He found a ransom. And that ransom
was one thing. You know you weren't redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold from your
vain conversation. received by tradition from the
elder, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
that had been slain. Redeeming blood, the forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of His grace. And here's revealing
grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. Something
that was a mystery. Something that's hidden from
the wise and prudent but revealed unto babes. And there are a lot
of people out in the world who are professionals, who are smart
in their line of work, in their expertise so-called, whatever
it is that they studied in school and all, they may be wise about
those things, who don't have a clue about God, who don't know
anything about the will of God and the purpose of God or the
grace of God. Who made us to differ? Here's
what makes us to differ, revealing grace, discriminating grace. Discriminating grace, we use
that all the time, don't we? It doesn't mean God discriminates
against anybody, against their rights. Nobody has any rights.
But what it is, is God discriminates for. He decided who He would
reveal His Son to at the end. So this is revealing grace. That
in the dispensation, verse 10, here's gathering grace. 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 on earth, even in him, gathering grace like sheep. Our
Lord said, there'll be one shepherd and one foal, and they'll all
be gathered in that foal. Sheep don't gather themselves,
do they? It's not in their nature. The
nature of sheep is to wander. Well, we have a good shepherd
now. Oh, a great shepherd. A chief shepherd. He gives under-shepherd,
but he's the chief shepherd. And the reason he's such a good
shepherd is because he's never lost a sheep. Never lost a sheep. All that thou hast given me,
Christ said, I have kept. I have kept because He is the
good, great and chief shepherd. That's gathering grace. Verse
11, here is inheriting grace. In whom also in Christ we have
obtained an inheritance. He is the elder brethren. He
is the rightful heir. He is the obedient son. He is
the one in whom the Father is well pleased. He is the one who
has a right to all things. He made Himself of no reputation,
took upon Himself the form of a servant. God gave Him a name which is
above every name. And because He laid down His
life, God made Him Lord of the dead and the living. Gave Him
all things. All things were given unto Me,
Christ said, in heaven and earth. And He rightly deserves those
things for what He did for us. But God says that we are joint
heirs with Him. Inheritance, I remind you, is
not something you earn, is it? If you get anything from your
parents or whomever, you didn't earn it, did you? You didn't
earn it. There are many kids that are
so bad, their parents disinherit them. Mom, I think I'm better. At any rate,
God will not disinherit. He said, Christ said, I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. No man, they
shall never perish. I'll never forsake them, He said,
no matter how bad they are. He'll gather, He'll bring that
prodigal son or daughter to Himself every time, inheriting grace. Here is believing and hearing
and sealing and promising grace, verses 12 and 13. that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ,
in whom He trusted, ye also." Paul trusted in Him. The apostles
trusted in Him. Our brethren before us, the saints,
trusted in Him and we trust in Him. Why do we trust in Him? Well, after He says, you heard
the word of truth. There was a time when we had
ears to hear and we didn't hear it. We heard the word of truth,
we didn't believe it. We turned away our ears from
the truth like other people did. But God gave us ears to hear. In the fullness of His time,
gave us ears to hear. We heard the word of truth and
believed Christ, trusted in Him. The gospel of our salvation we
heard in whom also after we believed we were sealed with the Holy
Spirit. Brethren, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk
according to the Spirit, who are in the Holy Spirit, sealed,
shut up to faith, in Christ the ark, sealed by His blood, and
sealed by the Spirit of God who will not let us go, not let us
out, sealing grace. Don't you like that? The Lord
God shut Noah in. And so He did with every one
of God's people. The Holy Spirit is sent by Christ
Himself, by the Father and Christ, to keep His people and lead them
and guide them and bring them all the way home. He's the earnest,
verse 14, of our inheritance. How do you know you're a child
of God, adopted? He's given us an earnest. trust fund that you get money. You know, the parents said, I
put away all this money for you. I promised it. And when we're
gone, you get it all. But until then, you can't handle
it all. And we can't handle all the grace.
Well, we can't handle much at all. But the Lord gives us earnest
money now, earnest grace. And the Holy Spirit keeps...
And like, you remember our Lord said, I have many things to say
unto you, but you're not able to bear them now. Well, if we
could really see the things that are prepared for us, we'd have
a hard time staying here, wouldn't we? Well, it says, this is earnest
of our redemption to purchase possession. It's all again to
the praise of His glory, the glory of His grace. And then
He prays a prayer for grace, verse 15 and following. I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto
all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you. Make him
mention of you in my prayers." And here's what he prays for,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you, and here's grace, the grace of wisdom, spirit
of wisdom, the revelation and the knowledge of Him. You remember
Peter's last words in his last epistle? Brethren, grow in grace
and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So this is what
he prays for, that we might grow in grace and the knowledge of
Christ. The eyes, verse 18, may our eyes
be open, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, that we sleep
not as others, but sleep of death, that we might Be enlightened.
What enlightens us? The entrance of thy word, David
said, lightens us. Oh Lord, open my eyes, my blind
eyes. Send that I save, anoint my eyes
that I might see the vanity of this world and see the unsearchable
riches that are crying. Close my eyes to this fading
beauty of this world and set my eyes and my affection on the
altogether lovely Son of God. That's his prayer. That's my
prayer for you and for me. And you might know, verse 18,
that you might know the hope of his calling. If he's called
you by the gospel, you have hope. We're going to see in a minute
how that we were without hope at one time. But now we have
this hope. Brethren, give diligence to make
your calling and election sure. Remember that? You don't know
you're elect except by the call. You can't read your name in the
Lamb's book of life, but you can know it's there by the call. For who He did foreknow, He did
predestinate. Whom He predestinated, He called. Called by our gospel. If you've
heard this gospel call and trusted in Christ alone, then you may
know, you may have hope that you're one of His. And what is
the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints? Oh,
brethren, it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we do know
when He shall appear, we'll be like Him. And oh, and all that
we have at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. And that
we may know, He prays that we may know the exceeding greatness
of His power to usward who believe. All the old writers say this,
how that We live so far below our privileges as believers.
He said, if you believe, all things are possible. We grovel, don't we? We have
such little faith. Oh my, that we might know the
exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe. Just believe. Why do you believe? It's the
working of His mighty power. You see that? And that's the
power He wrought in Christ. when He raised Him from the dead,
raising power, quickening power, quickening grace. He raised Christ
from the dead and set Him at His right hand, His own right
hand in the heavenly places. What does that say? What does
it say about us? It says we're seated together, doesn't it?
In verse 6 of the next chapter, seated together. Well, He set
Christ at His right hand in heavenly places, far above all principalities
and power and might and dominion, And every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And
He's put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head. He's our head. We're the body.
Gave Him to be the head over all. Gave Him to the church.
I love what Sheba said about Solomon. She said, the Lord must
love Israel to make you their king. Well, that was said in
prophecy, I believe, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, and He did. What great love the Father has
bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God. And
how we know that is He's made Christ our head. And we're His
body, verse 23. And all that that means is an
inseparable connection and a union between Christ and His people.
Your head and your body are never separated. If your head's ever
separated, you die. You die. The head and the body.
Wherever the head is, that's where the body is. We may not
think that, but that's the way it is. We're His body. And, uh,
the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. Of His fullness,
John said, have all we receive. Grace for grace. Grace. We're talking about grace.
Sovereign grace. Redeeming grace. Electing grace.
Revealing grace. Accepting grace. Gathering grace. Inheriting grace. Revealing grace. Hearing grace. Believing grace.
Sealing grace. Promising grace. The grace of
promise. And now, here's quickening grace. Chapter 2. It says, Ann. See, we couldn't begin this chapter. It begins with Ann. You can't
begin anything with and. And you hath he quickened. It's quickening grace. Quickening
means make alive, raised from the dead. You who were dead in
trespasses and sin. Dead. And you who were dead. Now, the only ones who know anything
about this quickening grace are those that were dead. The only
ones who know anything about revealing grace are those who
are blind, like the man in John 9. He said, I don't know much,
but I know this. I once was blind, but now I see. I do know that. And people argue
the doctrines of grace when there's so much more than doctrines.
They are the experience. Well, number one, they're a revelation
of who God is. They're a revelation of the gospel.
The doctrines of grace are not just doctrines, they're the experience
of every child of God. Total depravity, that means dead
in trespass and sin. Every one of God's people, they
don't, you don't argue about total depravity because you know
you were dead in trespass and sin. And you, hath he quickened
who were dead and trespassed in sin. Verse 2, wherein, that
is in sin, that is in this death, in times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, that's the devil, the spirit, the evil spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedient. Look around you.
Look at this world. Look at people today. Look at their countenance, look
at their clothing, look at their bodies, look at their walk, listen
to their talk. That's the course of this world.
Years ago, back in like the 60s, we thought it's bad and thought
it can't get any worse. Well, it has, hasn't it? That's
the course of this world. It's spiraling downward, getting
worse just like as in the days of Noah, just like as in the
days of Lot. Our Lord told us that. As Paul
said in 2 Timothy 3, in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of pleasure
more than lovers of God, lovers of their own self, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. Romans
1, you know these verses, don't you? Well, the world doesn't.
Do you know how blessed you are to know these things, to read
these things, to believe these things? Romans 1 is a clear description
of this untoward generation and the course of this world, isn't
it? It says that the things that
may be known of God, His power and His Godhead by creation,
verse 21, they knew and clearly seen, but they glorified Him
not as God and neither were thankful. It became vain in their imagination. They're educated, verse 22. They
can't get enough education, can't get enough degrees behind their
name. But the Lord says He's made foolish the wisdom of this
world, professing themselves to be wise, wise in their own
conceits. They flatter themselves, David
said in Psalm 36, until their iniquity be found out, my God. Professing themselves wise, they
became fools. See, a fool has said, no God.
The things are clearly seen. Only a blind fool would say there's
no God. So God gives them up. They change
the glory of the uncorruptible God into images and worship these
images. Change the truth, verse 25, of
God into a lie. Worship man more than God who's
blessed forever. Amen to that. So God gave them
up. Homosexuality, rampant. Verse
28, didn't like to retain God in their knowledge. They think
about many things, but God's not in any of those thoughts. Reprobate mind, don't have good
sense. Verse 29, filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy. This is, this is,
mankind is murder. Remember when the Lord looked
down upon this earth in the days of Noah and said, the whole earth
is corrupted my way. It's twisted. It's perverted. Call him good
evil and evil good. It's perverted. And God said,
I'm going to destroy man that I may. He said, the whole earth
is full of violence. Didn't He say that? Everything
we look at, every magazine, Every newspaper, every TV show, everything
is full of violence. Open your eyes. God opened our
eyes to see that He's at the door. We can see the sky, can't
we? It's red and glory. He's at the
door. Oh Lord, open our children's
eyes, our grandchildren, our spouses, our parents. Verse 30,
they're back biters, haters of God. Despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding,
covenant breakers. No one's word means a thing.
Without natural affection, mothers killing their unborn, giving
more concern with themselves and their children. Implacable,
unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit
such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have
pleasure in them that do them." Boast in. And you know Romans
3, don't you? This is taken from Psalm 14,
isn't it? The Lord looked down from heaven
to see if there were any that didn't understand. There's none
righteous, no, not one. There's none good, not one. Together
become unpopular, their throats an open sepulchre, mouths full
of cursing and bitterness, feet swift to shed blood, destruction
and misery, the way of peace they don't know, no fear of God
before their eyes. And all are guilty, all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And you, such were some of you, now let
me remind you, Even if you weren't in the gutter,
like some in here, self-righteousness is worse than, if there's anything
worse than open wickedness, it's self-righteousness. Because, I tell you this, whatever we
haven't done, we've thought about it, there's not a person in here
who hasn't thought the worst thoughts. And the only one who
kept us from fulfilling the thoughts of our mind, desires of our flesh,
was God. So many, Dad said this years
ago, so many of these religious people, moral upright people
supposedly, mistake the sovereign restraining grace of God for
their own personal holiness. that because they're moral and
upright. Paul said, Dad, I was blameless. Who kept him from
those things? God did. And for someone to take
credit for something God... for not doing something or doing
something when it's God's restraining or constraining grant is the
worst form of evil and wickedness. God hates it. In fact, there
were two men that went into the... the temple one day to pray, and
one was full of self-righteousness. Oh, he was moral. He was upright. And everybody would have said,
if anybody is going to heaven, it's him. And him back in the
back was an old publican. Everybody said, if anybody is
going to hell, it's him. And all that publican could do
was say, God, be merciful to me. And Christ said, I tell you
what, that this man who asked for mercy, this wretched, vile
sinner, the worst of the worst, the chief of sinners, is justified
from all things." While this self-righteous Pharisee who never
did any of those things, he thought it, but he never did any of those
things, he's going to hell. He's going to split hell wide
open. Christ said that. So let not anyone in here or
anyone who's going to listen to this think for a minute that
because you haven't done any of these things that you're better. Paul said, are we better than
they? Talking to the Jews, talking
about the Gentiles in chapter 1 of Romans, and the Jews in
chapter 2, he said, we better than they? No wise. No wise. And we were just like that. Just
like them. Prince of the power of the air,
going according to the course of this world. What's the course
of this world? It's a way that seems right unto
men. What does God say? What is that way? It ends up
in death. Destruction. Their own way. All we like sheep have gone our
own way. That's us. That was us. Children
of disobedience. You know, God only had one obedient
Son. Only one obedient Son. Only one
Son, God said out loud from heaven, I am well pleased with Him. Jesus
Christ. The only way we are considered
obedient is in Him. In Him. And we were children
of disobedience. Verse 3, and we had our lot with
these people. They were our buddies, weren't
they? Our partners in crime. Verse 3, among whom also we had
our conversation in time past. What did you talk about? What did you do back then? Huh? Here's what you did, the
lust of your flesh, the desires of your flesh. God was your belly,
wasn't it? And of the flesh and of the mind,
what did you think of? Things above? No. Was God in
your thoughts? In your thoughts? No. Just like
the people of this world, no different. And were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. That was you. That was me. And you know what salvation is?
It's found in two words. But God. All our theology can
be summed up in two words, but God. And you, nothing but sin, wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, naked, children of wrath, captive to the God
of this world, but God. This is our salvation. It's in
two words. It said over here, in Christ. There's two words,
in Christ. Colossians says, in Christ, by
Christ, with Christ, through Christ, to Christ, to the praise
of His glory. And you hath He quickened, made
alive, made alive who were dead because of His great love. But
God, who is rich in mercy, verse 4, for His great love wherewith
He loved us. Now, do I need to remind you?
Yes, I do. And Paul Peter said this, I would
always have you in remembrance. Look down at verse 11, he says,
For if I remember, remember brethren, that you in time passed with
Gentiles in the flesh. Gentiles, they called that by
the uncircumcision, by the circumcision. Jews called Gentiles dogs, not
only for their physical resemblance, anatomically resembling, but
because of the way they acted like dogs, lived like dogs, Gentile,
wild dog. I'm Scotch-Irish. Scotch-Irish. The only people worse than them
are the French. I'm Scotch-Irish, seriously. The Celts, the Celtic
people were wild barbarians, idols, the Druids, you know,
these so-called holy men worshipped idols and false gods. They were
no better than Natives in the jungles of Africa are dancing
around a pole. In fact, my ancestors used to
go to battle naked. That's the reason they won so
many wars. I'd run too. Seriously, the Celts, the Celtics
and people think they're some noble people. They're wild men.
Right now over there, Ireland is full of what? Catholicism,
idolatry. And you. Have to be quick. Raised from the dead. Raised
from the dead. Oh, trying to remind us where
we came from. Now in verse 12 it says we were
without Christ. Oh, we had religion, but without
Christ. Without Christ's religions, nothing.
Aliens. I believe in aliens. They're all around us, aren't
they? They don't come from outer space.
They just come from earth. Aliens, wild, godless creatures. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel. Strangers from the covenants of promise. No hope
without God in the world. But now, you see that? There's our salvation, but God.
But now, in Christ Jesus, by Christ, you who were sometime
afar off are brought nigh. How? By the blood of Christ. Go get that fellow. I shed my
blood for him. Deliver him out of that pit.
I paid for him. I died for him. Now let me remind
you this. That great love wherewith God
loved us, God who is rich in mercy. People, our greatest need
is mercy and it's what God is full of, merciful. And He delights
to show great mercy, delights to show mercy, rich in mercy.
Rich means to have a lot of. I need a lot. For His great love
wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sin, Romans 5
says, for scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perventure
for a good man would even dare to die. But God, but God. Here's the love of God. Commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, children
of wrath, disobedient, Christ died for them. Would you send
your... I have an only daughter now,
others through her, but an only daughter. And I'll just be honest
with you, I would not give her life for anybody. I wouldn't
do it. I don't think there's anybody
deserving of her life. Would you? Be honest. I wouldn't
do it for me. But God, we're not talking about
dying for pretty good people. Children of wrath go down to
the prison and pick some fella with tattoos all over his body
and a shaved head and piercings all over his body who's killed
and raped and murdered and robbed. And people, let me remind you
how God sees humankind. He said they're all together
because God looks on the mind. And as we said before, there's
not a thought, there's not a deed that these people have done that
hasn't run through our mind. He let somebody pull up in front
of us in a car, and if it was a Wild West and we had a gun,
we'd nail them, wouldn't we? Wouldn't we? Admit it. The love of God. To send His Son down into this
cesspool. Everybody's like that to Him.
Do you know what He heard? He read the thoughts of people. His holy nature, and yet He willingly,
in great mercy and love and grace and kindness, came into this
septic tank called planet Earth, plunged Himself into it, agreed
to be made this filth for us to save not good people, but
death row criminals who didn't want Him, didn't ask for Him,
and when He got here, they killed Him. Greater love is no man than this. Let's not talk about love except
His love. Oh, for His great love. You see,
that's the love, wherewith He loved us, even dead in sin. And He's quickened us, verse
5, together with Christ. Oh, Paul can't hardly go a sentence
without saying, by grace you say. He knows this. We were going to sing the song,
I Love to Tell the Story. I do too. I love to tell the
story. It will be our theme in glory, to tell the old, old story
of Christ Jesus and His love. It's my story. You know, you
love to tell your own story, don't you? You keep telling it
over and over again. Some of you, over 60, keep telling
the same stories over and over again. And you say, have I told
you this before? And now I'm just going to say
from now on, no, tell it to me. But we're all guilty of that,
aren't we? But you see, if it's something
you've experienced, if it's your story, you love to tell it, don't
you? Whether anybody wants to hear it or not, whether they've
heard it many times before or not. But if it's your story,
you love to tell it, something you've experienced. Paul told
this story everywhere he went, his story. Listen to this. He
said, this is my story. He said, I thank God, I thank
Christ Jesus our Lord who put me in the ministry, who was before
a blasphemer and persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy. I did it ignorantly unbelieving.
And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant,
Paul said, exceeding abundant. Where sin did abound, he said,
grace did much more abound to this chief of sinners. Exceeding
abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This
is a faithful Satan, Paul said. And worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom,
and he said, I'm here to tell you, I'm the chief. Oh, His grace. I'm the object, I'm the greatest
object of God's grace in this room. Yes, I am. You can argue
with me all you want to, but I'm sorry. Oh, my God is rich in mercy. Quickened us together by grace,
raised us up together, verse 6. See, this is all our story. If this is your story, it says
that you love to hear the story in that song. It seemed hungering
and thirsting to hear it like the rest. I love to tell the
story to those that know it best." He said, because that's your
story, isn't it? It's your story, isn't it? We
can relate because we are all children of wrath, but God. In the ages to come, verse 6,
He's made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Right now, you're in a heavenly
place. This is a foretaste of glory divine. And there's a handful
of people in Kingsport, and up in Fairmont, and Lexington, and
Ball, Louisiana, and Alpaca, Florida, and Dingus, West Virginia. Dingus? The world will say, Dingus? Where in the world is Dingus?
It's a heavenly place. I could live there, couldn't
you, John? Oh, yeah. All you do is sit on the porch and go
to church. Honestly. And they're a heavenly
people. They are the saints of whom the
world is not worthy. Gary, Alberta, and Abby, and
Barb, and Lori, and Roland, oh my, Jack. Aren't they? The world's not worthy. Salt
of the earth. Made us sit together. Brought us together. I wouldn't
have anything to do with you if it wasn't for the grace of
God. then you wouldn't have anything to do with me. We'd be so far
apart, just alike, but hating one another, wouldn't we? But
God, I'm so glad I know you. This is the grace of God bringing
us together in it. Make us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. The world may not want to hear
about Christ Jesus. Do you? Well, here you sit. Oh, my. And here's the reason
for it all. Verse 7, in the ages to come,
He's going to show the exceeding riches of His grace. You know, I've just waded ankle
deep in the ocean of His fullness, of His grace. We just touched
our toe in the water. We preach in part. But in the
ages to come, what's Christ going to preach to us? By grace you
say. He's going to show us exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward us. And where is this
grace? Through Christ Jesus. For by
grace are you saved. Through faith. Almost quit before
I got to that. Through faith, and it's not of
yourself, it's a gift of God. You know how many people hate
this gospel. You know how many people reject this gospel. You
know how many people You know how few people believe this now
in these latter days. You know how few people... You
know how people think this is the most ridiculous, archaic,
old-fashioned, Calvinistic, barbaric religion on earth? Yes, they
do. But you and I know it's the only
truth there is. We believe, don't we? Why? We
believe and are sure. Why? By grace. By grace. It's not of yourself. It's a
gift of God. No, there's no room for boasting. Not of works. It's
all His workmanship. We've been chosen in Christ,
created in Christ. God hath ordained all things
for us in Christ Jesus. May the Lord bless His Word.
In the praise of the glory of His grace. This is my prayer. Excuse me.