I'm going to bring you a message
this morning from the book of Ephesians, and I'll have you
turn over there in just a few moments. The title of this message
that I'm going to preach to you today is An Apostolic Benediction. What is a benediction? Well,
a benediction is a blessing, a divine blessing pronounced. at the end of the service. You
hear people say, now we'll stand for our benediction. Now the
brother will pronounce the benediction. This is the end. And this is
really what is taking place here in the book of Ephesians. The
Apostle Paul was converted when he was in his early forties.
Preached the gospel of God's grace for many years, and then
in his middle 60s, I believe they say, that Paul was put in
prison, and wrote this book of Ephesians. If you just a moment
turn to Acts chapter, the last chapter of Acts, Acts 28, the
last chapter of the book of Acts. Paul had been put in prison in
Rome. But it was an unusual type of
prison. Paul was allowed to stay in his
own hired house with a Roman guard all the time for two whole
years. He dwelt in this house for two
whole years with guards about. He couldn't leave, but people
could come and hear him preach. They could come and visit him
and come and hear him preach. He never left that house. He
died later. He was martyred, some believe.
But here's the last two verses of the book of Acts. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, who
came to visit, to hear him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching
those things which concerned the Lord Jesus Christ Paul preached
with all confidence, nobody forbid him, and he will. He wrote what
he called the prison epistles, of which Ephesians is one of
them. It's one of Paul's last letters
to the churches, the book of Ephesians. I don't know in what
order that they were presented and sent to the churches, but
this is Paul's benediction. This is his benediction. I'm
preaching to you, not just today, but in the next few. Job said, my days will depart,
and days, months, or years, or whatever. But I'm much older
than Paul. I'm much older now than Paul
was when he wrote these words, his benediction to the churches.
And I realize more than ever before, that I preach as one
who may never preach again. This may be my benediction. And
I preach as one who may never preach again, seventy-eight years
old almost. And I preach as a dying man to
dying men. I'm dying, but you are too. My
days are numbered, and so are yours. But the Lord said, teach
us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. And one of my dear friends, Brother
Frank Tate, who taught Our Lady's Bible class at our church for
many years, retired. He retired from his job. He'd been working at this factory
outside of Ashton for of years, and he retired. He was 62 years
old. And he's already there. I've
never seen a man so happy as Frank when he retired. In every
service, all the men's meetings, teaching the ladies' Bible class,
they loved Brother Frank, a great teacher of the Word of God. And
he and his wife came up here to the Peaks in a few days, and
then they went to Washington and to Canada. last kind of celebration
of their retirement. And they were in the hotel room
in Canada. And he said to his wife, he said,
there's a lot of dust in this room. She said, what'd you say? He said, I don't know what I
said. I really don't know what I said. You don't know either
do you? No. She said, we better get you the doctor. And they
had a stroke, massive, massive stroke, blood on the brain. And I preached his funeral just
a few days ago. And we've got to remember that.
We've got to remember that. So teach us to number our days. Our days are short for many of
us, but they're good days. and happy days and wonderful
days. And I'm going to preach to you this benediction. Now,
let me give you a little background of this man, Paul. He was in
his forties. He was a very religious man.
Pharisee. Soil of Tarsus. Steeped in religion,
legalism, self-righteousness, tradition. But God saved him. God made him on the road to Damascus.
Paul knew something about tradition and religion. He knew something
about being in bondage to religion without knowing God, without
knowing Christ. But then he met the Lord Jesus
on the road to Damascus, and our Lord revealed the gospel
to him. He said he broke him. Paul was
broken on the road to Damascus. He was brought to the feet of
Christ. He was slain by the law. He was stripped. of his own righteousness
and clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The light shone about
him brighter than the sun, the scripture said. And he came to
know the Savior. Saul, who knew something about
the bondage of false religion, the traditions, legalism of false
religion, he now knew something about the grace of God. saving
grace of God in his heart. The Lord saved him. Freedom of
that grace. Christ has set us free. Set us
free. And then the Lord called Paul
to preach the gospel. The Lord called him to preach
the gospel. He was taught by Christ. He said, I didn't receive
my gospel from men. I was taught it by the Son of
God. That's Paul became an apostle, one who saw the Lord. As one
born out of due time, but he saw the Lord. The Lord appeared
to him on the road to Damascus and spoke to him. And then he
went into Arabia, and God, the Lord God, taught him the gospel.
Taught him the gospel of God's sovereign grace, saving grace,
redeeming grace, keeping grace, free grace. He learned the gospel.
Now Saul of Tarsus, who who was reared in religion and bound
in bondage of tradition and false religion, came to the knowledge
of the liberty of Christ and the grace of God, and now he
learned the gospel and preached that gospel. He said, in the
sense that he had laid on me, what would have happened to me
if I preached not the gospel? And he said one time, though
I were an angel from heaven preaching the other gospel, that This man
knew the gospel, loved the gospel, preached the gospel. But also
Saul of Tarsus knew Christ. He said, I know whom I have to
leave. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. And
I'm giving you my life story, and I believe the life story
and experience of many of you. We knew false religion. I was raised in false religion.
I was raised in freewillism and Arminianism and false religion,
tradition, self-righteousness. I was raised that way. And then
I met Christ on my road to Damascus, and he revealed himself to me. Now, he didn't just reveal the
doctrine to me, he revealed the person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and gave me a knowledge of Christ, and he set me free. from the
bondage of this religion, and I learned this gospel. I learned
this gospel. God taught us, taught me, and
taught you the gospel of his grace. You love it. You believe
it. You trust it. You rest in it. You have a pastor that preaches
it. You love him and rejoice in the message he brings. And
we know whom we have believed. Isn't that it? Right now. I know
whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded, confident, that he's
able to keep that which I've committed to him against that
day. It's Christ. He's my Redeemer.
Now look, if you will, at Ephesians 1, and this is what Paul has
been saying. In verse 1, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to you,
and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, he goes on with this benediction. He says in verse 3, blessed be
the God. Blessed be the God. Bless God. Why? Because he is
God. I bless God, I praise God, because
he is God. God is God. Blessing and honor
and glory and praise be unto him forever and ever, unto him
that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb." Bless God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that's within me. Bless His holy name. Almighty
Sovereign, hallowed be Thy name. All right, read on. Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this God? Well, He's He's eternal God,
almighty God. He's the creator of heaven and
earth, creator of all things. But He's the Father of our Savior. He is the Father of our Redeemer. Jesus Christ is the only begotten
Son of God. You're Son of God by adoption.
He's the Son of God by essence. He is the only begotten Son of
God. He's the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's who he is. Blessed be
God, and blessed God who's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Hebrews says, Whom
he's appointed heir of all things. That's who Christ is. He's the
Father of him whom he has appointed heir of all things. By whom he
made the worlds and all things that are therein. who's the brightness
of His glory, who's the express image of His person. He that
has seen me has seen God, and he's seen God has seen me. He
upholdeth all things by His word. And when He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of God. Bless God.
Blessed be Who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? You don't have any Father except
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And He's your Father
because He's His Father. He's your Savior because He's
the Savior of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. All right,
read on. Who has blessed us? Talking about
our God. This is Paul's benediction. Blessed
be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us, now listen, with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in
Christ. Now, I'm not talking here about
carnal blessings and material blessings and blessings as pertaining
to this present life, though we have abundance of them. Oh, I look over this congregation,
what a, what a precious group of people. What a delightful
congregation. What a blessed church. God's blessed you with so many
things. He's blessed you with life and
health and those blessed children you have. And God's blessed us
materially. God's blessed us, just blessed
us so many, many ways. But I'm not talking, we're not
talking here, Paul's not talking here about these material blessings.
That's what the world's taken up with. They take it up with
health and wealth and all these things. But that's not what he's
talking about. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. What blessings are we
talking about here? We're talking about holiness.
Perfect holiness that we have in Christ. Righteousness. which we have in Christ, grace
which we have in Christ, love and mercy which we have in Christ,
life eternal, justification, sanctification. He blessed us
with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. Lay not up for
yourselves treasures on this earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt and thieves break through and steal. But in Christ, they've
laid up for you heavenly blessings, spiritual blessings, eternal
justification, righteousness, peace. In other words, we have
in Christ. Where are these blessings? In
Christ. They're not in the church. They're not in the preachers.
They're not in the altar. They're not in the denominations.
They're in Christ. God has blessed us. He has already
blessed us. Already. You know that? Already.
It's not what we're going to have, it's what we have already.
We have, my friends, all that heaven can bestow. Everything
that heaven can bestow upon anyone is bestowed upon us in Christ.
Everything. We have all that heaven can require. What does that require me right
now if I close this message, or didn't even finish it, and
went to be with the Lord? All that heaven requires is already
mine. That's right. To be absent of
my own presence with the Lord. As our Jesus said to the thief
on the cross, today you'll be with me in paradise through faith. All that heaven can bestow, all
that heaven can require, all that is needed for us to depart
and be with Christ is already ours in Christ. And all the inheritance
which is laid up for us in heaven is already laid up. I go to prepare
a place for you, and when I go, and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I
am, there you may be also." I don't need anything really now. God
has supplied all I need, all I need, and that's not poor,
that's not needs, that's all I need in Christ Jesus, that's
right, in His Son. And these blessings are in Christ.
in Christ. That's where they are. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete in Him already. In Him. We're in Christ as Noah
was in the ark. Shallion and Kep. All life, love, promises, provisions,
hope, truth, glory is in Him. already bestowed. One of the
old writers wrote this, Lord Jesus, engrave it on my heart
that you are the one thing needful. I could from all things pardoned
be, but never, never, never, Lord, from thee. Needful art
thou to make me live. Needful art thou, all grace to
give. Needful to guide me when I stray. Needful to save me every day. Needful thy presence, dearest
Lord, true peace and comfort to afford. Needful art thou to
be my strength through all life's dark and stormy way. no less in death I will needful
be when my soul departs to be with Thee. Jesus Christ is made
to me all I need, all that heaven can demand and require. The glorious spiritual blessings
that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ Now let's look at verse
four. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. Let me put three
questions to you here. Of whom are we speaking here?
In verse four. According as he chose us. That's God the Father, isn't
it? He chose us. Blessed be God, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, according as He chose us. That's right. He chose us. That's who we're
talking about here. And who are we talking about
here? He chose us. Who's the us? That's us. That's us. He chose us. And He chose us where? In Christ. So the three mentioned here,
the Father, the Father hath chose secondly us, believers, us, thirdly
Christ, in Christ. The Father chose us in Christ.
Turn to Malachi. I want you to look at the last
book in the Old Testament, Malachi. The last book in the Old Testament,
chapter three. Almost the final words in the
Old Testament. See who we're talking about here.
Malachi 3, verse 16. You have it? Malachi 3, 16. Then
David feared the Lord, loved the Lord, believed God, spake
often one to another, and the Lord hearkened and heard it.
And a book of remembrance was written before him for them. The Father has written a book
before him, before Christ, for them that fear the Lord, and
that thought on his name. And they'll be mine, saith the
Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. And I'll
spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him." That's
who he's talking about. Father chose us in Christ. Well, when did he choose us?
Well, let's look at verse four. Before the foundation of the
world. before the world began, before God made the earth and
the seas and all that dwell therein, before the foundation, before
the foundations of the world were ever laid, God chose us
in Christ. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. In 2
Thessalonians, here's another one of those books God's led
the apostle Paul to write. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
3. He said, but we're bound, we're
just bound to give thanks always to God. Give thanks to God, the
Father, for you, for you brethren, you believers, beloved of the
Lord. Because God hath from the beginning,
went from the beginning, known unto God all His works from the
beginning. He chose you through sanctification
salvation. He chose you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Wherefore
He called you, how? By our gospel. To whom? To the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father
chose us in Christ from the beginning and gave us all things in Christ. And why would the Lord choose
these people? Well, let's look at verse 4 again. According as
he hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in his presence
in love. Now, that Father doesn't say
here that Father chose us because we were holy, did he? We weren't. We're not in ourselves. In my flesh, blood is no good
thing. No man can, in the sight and
presence of God, can please the Lord except in Christ. So we're
not chosen because we were holy. We're not chosen because we are
now holy. We're chosen that we might be
partakers of his holiness, of his righteousness, of his of
his wisdom. We're chosen in Christ. Both
in this life, we have holiness in Christ, and in the life to
come, we have holiness in Christ. I want you to look at a couple
of verses. Look at 1 Corinthians. Chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Verse
26. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. Listen. For you see your calling, brethren,
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many wise men
after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But
God, that God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise, God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty or think they are,
and the base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen. Yea, and things which are not,
to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made, he has made him to be wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. As it is written, He that glories,
let him glory in the Lord. We're not chosen because we're
holy. We're not chosen because of our holiness. We're chosen
in Christ that we might be made holy. Wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. That's right. That we might be
made holy. Look at the last chapter of Jude,
the only chapter in Jude, the last few verses of Jude. But Jude chapter 1 verse 24,
listen. It says here in Jude verse 1,
listen, Now unto him that is able to keep you from faulting,
and to present you, Christ is going to present us faultless. faultless before the presence
of God Almighty's glory with exceeding joy. To Him, the only
wise God, our Savior, be glory, majesty, dominion, power, now
and forever. Bless God. The Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heaven according as He chose us in Christ before the
world that we might be holy and without blame before him in love. Now watch this next verse. Ephesians
chapter 1, this next verse. Verse 5. Here it is. Having predestinated us, having
predestinated, what does the word predestinated mean? Well,
she was four times in the Bible. Maybe a fifth time, but it's
called full ordination then. But the word predestination means
this, foreordained. Ordained before time. Ordained
before all things. Prevail at grace. Grace before
grace. It's ordained. It's appointed.
God has appointed all things in from the beginning. God never
learns anything new. Heaven never declares anything
new. All things are new in Him. The word predestination means
foreordained, appointed. It means ordained before all
things. Let me tell you, let me illustrate
you. When was the Lord Jesus Christ
ordained to be our Savior? When was he crucified and slain? He was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. That's right. He was the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ
has always been the Lamb of God. He's the virgin son that he proclaimed
in Genesis 3. He's the seed of woman. He's
the Messiah. before the foundation of the
world. All right? He predestinated the people. It says here in 2
Timothy, turn to 2 Timothy, verse 2 Timothy chapter 1. I want you to look at this first. This foreordination, predestination,
in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 8. Now, Timothy Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our God, our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner,
but you be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God, who has saved us." not according to our works, not
according to our deeds, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given us in Jesus Christ before this world began. I can't
make that any plainer than I've tried to make it. But what God
has made it, what the Lord has declared, he predestinated. He
predestinated the means of salvation. Turn to Romans chapter Chapter
8. The pastor preached on this,
Romans chapter 3, some time ago. We've all been going through
the book of Romans. Turn to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3, verse 25. It says here concerning Christ our
Lord, whom God, listen to this, in Romans chapter 3 verse 25,
whom God has set forth God set him forth, God foreordained him,
God appointed him to be a perpetuation through faith in his blood, for the remission of sins that
have perished through the forbearance of God, through the longsuffering
of God, wisdom of God. This thing predestinated us,
just like He predestinated Christ, the Messiah, the Lamb's It's
like He predestinated the elect from before the foundation of
the world. He predestinated the means of salvation. The means
of salvation. The gospel, whom God has set
forth to be a perpetuation for our sin. And He predestinated
the end result. And this is what you studied
last week, a week before Romans chapter 8. Listen. Romans chapter
8, verse 29. Verse 28, Romans, read this,
Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God, who are the call according
to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, knew
beforehand, knew all things, known unto God all his works
from the beginning. He also did foreordain, predestinate,
to be conformed to the image of his that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
then he called, and whom he called he justified, and whom he justified
he glorified." Now, what you got to say to that? What, then,
shall we say to these things? What are we going to say to them?
If God be for me, who can be against me? If God be for you and me in election,
in grace, in fortunation, in Christ, in his death, in his
life, in his righteousness. Who can be against us? He who
has spared not his own son, shall he not with him give us all things? Who's he that can do this? It's
Christ that died. It's God that justified. This is the gift of God. Salvation's
a gift of God. Thanks be unto God for his gift
of God. Now it works, lest any man should
bow. Now I'll close with a verse or
two in Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1, verse 6. Ephesians
1, verse 6. Having predestinated us, verse
5, to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his own will, to the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he made us accepted in the beloved. Can
I leave you with this word right here? To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he had made us accepted in the beloved. Let
me tell you this, and you remember it as long as you can. The glory
of God, the glory of Almighty God, is the supreme end and goal
of all that Almighty God does. That's right. The glory of God
is the supreme end And the glory of God is all that God is in
that accomplishment, what he does. The end of all things is
the glory of God. He said that to Pharaoh. He said
to Pharaoh, for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I
might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
in all the earth. Pharaoh, who battled against
God and against Moses and against Israel, and went down to death
and defeat, God said concerning that man, and all men who ever
served God's purpose of judgment or grace, for this purpose I
raised you up. That's why I raised you up. That's
why I gave you life in your mother's womb, and that's why you were
born, that's how and why you live. that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth, and that I might show my power, redemptive
power, or whatever power in you." You understand what he's saying
here? That you and I are born and live and die to the glory
of God. It's to accomplish his purpose.
It's not to leave my name on a wall somewhere, on a monument. Or at some memorial, people would
brag on me, God Almighty saved me and called me and redeemed
me by Christ to his glory. To God be the glory. Great things
he had done. That no flesh should glow in
his presence. You get what I'm saying? It's
the truth anyway. If you're here to serve God,
you better do it. with all your soul, with all
your heart, with all your mind, with all your strength, love
God and serve him, or be damned. That's right. The glory of his
creation. Listen to this. The glory of
his creation. The heavens declare the glory
of God. The firmament shows his handiwork. Everything that God has created
and lives and serves is for his purpose. that he might be glorified,
and the glory of his holiness. His holiness. We're going to
be made holy. Perfectly holy. The glory of
his grace. He has put all things, now watch
this last verse, verse 6, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, for when he made us, he made us accept it. He not only
chose me and called me and redeemed me, but He's the one that made
me accepted in Christ. I didn't accept Him, He accepted
me in Christ. This is what the old-timers said.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the beloved of the Father from all
eternity. God the Father has put all things
in the hands of His Son. to redeem a people by his blood
and by his holy life, because of his love for you and me in
Christ, because of what Christ did for us in his life and in
his death and on that tree. God the Father has made us accepted
in the beloved. He made us accepted. Nothing is said of our accepting
him. Nothing is said here or in this
world about us accepting Him. He accepted us. We believe in
Him, we love Him, we trust Him, we honor Him, we submit to Him,
but God made us accepted in Christ. He made us accepted. It's God's
Son that is our acceptance. He loved us And he made us sons
of God in him. And here's the beauty of the
closing verse. In whom we have redemption. We
already have redemption. It's a new ownership. You're
not your own, you're bought with a price. We have redemption through
his blood. Through his blood. That's the
salvation of the gods. God that justifies. We have the
forgiveness of sins, the forgiveness of all our sins are put away. And the certainty of it is this,
we have it. We have redemption already. We have the forgiveness of sin
through his blood in Christ. Our Father, thank you for your
word. Thank you, Father, for not passing
us by. Thank you, Father, that by your
grace and mercy you chose us in Christ. Thank you, Father,
that you crossed our path and revealed
the gospel to us. Reveal Christ to our hearts and
shed abroad your love in our hearts for him. We praise your
name. We give thee all the glory and
the praise. Thank you for this congregation,
for these people whom you brought together to love you and to glorify
your name and to preach your gospel and to be a blessing in
this community. We thank you for this pastor
who so faithfully preaches the gospel of your grace, giving
him a love for Christ and a love for the people of Christ, a love
for the gospel of Christ. We do praise your name. As we
depart from this place and go to our homes today, we pray that
you would bless us and bless our children, our grandchildren,
our families, our loved ones. and our friends. And bless this
message today to the hearts of all thy people. Wherever this
message may be heard, by tape or whatever, pray you'd make
it to be effectual to every heart. Pray for our friends who are going through trials and troubles
and sickness and heartache and loneliness and, Lord, we're cast
down but we're not destroyed. We're never defeated. We're in
Christ. And in Him we have peace and
joy and happiness. And we, we pray with the apostle
who closed the last chapter of the last book. of the Word, even
so come, Lord Jesus. In thy name we pray and give
thanks. Amen. Brother John is going to
come and lead us in a closing hymn, and then you'll be dismissed. 235. Stand and sing a couple of verses. Verse 1 and verse 2. Number 235. While on others Thou art calling,
Do not pass me by. Savior, Savior, hear my humble
cry, While on others Thou art calling, Let me bow, let me add a bone
of mercy, find a sweet release, deliver me from depression, Hear my humble cries, While on
earth's sour calling, Do not pass me by. Thank you.