I'm going to speak to you this
morning from the book of Ephesians, chapter one, which Pastor Paul
read to us. These people at Ephesus were
very special to the Apostle Paul. He preached the gospel in Ephesus
for about two or three years. actually longer than he stayed
in most places. And this epistle was written
by Paul in his very last days. He was in Rome in prison, and
he wrote to the church at Ephesus. And I believe in these opening
verses his purpose was twofold. If you'll turn to Acts I'll show
you the first reason why Paul set forth
this word so clearly on the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine of
Christ to the church at Ephesus. In Acts 20, Paul sent for the
elders at Ephesus. He sent for them. And they came
to Antioch, and he spoke to them. This was the last time they saw
his face on this earth. This was the last message he
ever delivered to these elders from Ephesus. And you sometimes—I'm
not going to read all of it this morning, just a couple of verses—but
sometimes read this twentieth chapter of Acts. In this last
message, Paul said, You'll see my face no more. And when they
bade him farewell, they wept. And Never heard him preach again,
but he left them with this word in verse 28. He said, Now take
heed to yourselves, speaking to these elders. You take heed
to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
has made you overseers. You feed the church of God. You
teach them the word. You preach to these people of
God. which he purchased with his own
blood. For I know this, this is a warning I'm going to give
you, that after my departing shall grievous wolves," you know,
our Lord called the false preachers wolves in sheep's clothing. And
Paul uses the same word his master used in referring to these men.
He said, wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the sheep. Wolves in sheep's clothing. And
also, verse thirty, of your own selves shall men arise speaking
perverse things, things that aren't true, things that aren't
gospel, things that aren't honoring to Christ. And the reason they
do this is to draw away disciples after themselves, that they might
profit in religion, as the pastor talked about a little while ago,
profit, gain applause and fame and possessions and a following
and acclaim and all, they're covetous men and they profit
again in religion and they draw away disciples after themselves.
And I'm warning you, he said, you be faithful and you teach
the people of God because this is going to take place. The second
thing, the reason why he, this chapter one especially, wrote
concerning the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Redemption, he wrote
to establish them firmly in the doctrine of Christ, in the gospel
of Christ, Christ Jesus, who he is, why he came into this
world, what he accomplished in his work in this world, and where
he is now, the doctrine of Christ. Now, a church can survive trials. I've been pastor of the same
church a long time, and we've had some trials. And we can survive
trials. And a church can survive troubles
and persecution and the hatred of people who do not love the
gospel. They can survive those things,
and they can survive the loss of of revered leaders. I've said
goodbye to a lot of men I thought I couldn't get along without.
I really have. And we've survived. Elders and
teachers and men with whom I began the journey fifty years ago.
We've survived. And a church can survive divisions. We've had divisions. We've had disagreements over the years,
and we survived them. But it's one thing a church cannot
survive, and that is a departure from the doctrine of Christ, a departure from the gospel of
Jesus Christ our Lord. All that He is and all that He
has done and is doing and is doing now and shall do sovereignty
of God and the salvation of his people. The Father shows, the
Son redeemed, and the Spirit reveals. You can't survive the
loss of that. When I first heard this gospel
of grace, Brother Powell referred to when he heard the gospel. And some of you remember when
you heard the gospel. The first time you really heard
it, you'd been to church all your lives, some of you. But
God was pleased to cross your path, and God was pleased to
reveal his Son in you, and you heard the gospel. And I heard
it when I was 24 years old, and I had already pastored one church
and gone to school and studied to be a preacher, but I didn't
know the gospel of God's grace, the gospel I'm going to preach
to you this morning, and the gospel your pastor just finished
preaching. When I heard that gospel, it
was like God pulled back a curtain. It was like the Word just became
alive, and Christ became a person revealed in me. And I began to
study. I began to study the Word of
God, and I also studied something else. I went back and looked
at what men believed in the past. I wanted to find out who the
men were that God honored and God blessed and God used. And I made it my business to
study the history of the church and the fathers and those men
whom God—not just the apostles, but the Reformers, the men way
back then. And I understood, I came to this
understanding that What is called a church, a religion in the world,
was in bondage and darkness to Roman Catholicism for centuries,
just centuries. The people didn't have the scriptures,
they didn't have the word of God, they depended on the Pope
and the priests. And these men kept folks in darkness,
in bondage, in tradition, superstition, superstition reigned. darkness
reigned, and the traditions, and people were literally in
captivity to these religious leaders. And about the fifteenth
century, about fourteen hundred and something, six hundred years
ago, God Almighty was pleased to raise up some to raise up
some pictures. Martin Luther was born in Germany
in 1483. That's when, about when it really
occurred, in Germany, in France, in Scotland, in England, and
in Holland. About the same time, God raised
up these men, and the Reformation And between 1500 and 1700, God
raised up some people. In England, there was a Church
of England, the Church of England. We know it today as Episcopalian
Church. And God raised up some men in
England, some faithful men, who believed the gospel of grace.
God revealed the gospel to them, and Martin Luther in Germany
and John Calvin and other men in France and in Scotland and
Ireland and in Holland. And they were dissenters. They were Protestants. They protested
the superstition and darkness and traditions of Catholicism,
works for religion, for salvation. And these men had followers in
their countries. Luther in Germany, the Lutherans,
and in Scotland the Presbyterians, in England the Church of England,
and in Highland the Dutch. And these men wanted their people
who were hearing them, listening to them, to know what they believed. And so they began to write their
confessions of faith. And I've searched out these confessions
of faith. I found them. They're in the
libraries. You can get copies of them. These
churches, the Church of England and the Presbyterians and the
Lutherans and the Baptists and the Dutch, still have these confessions
of faith, but they don't believe them. You see, the Church of
England had what they call the Thirty-Nine Articles. You can
get them. Write that down. Thirty-nine
articles in the Church of England. You can find them and read them.
And let me tell you something. This may astound you, but you
can agree with and adopt almost every one of them. They declare
God sovereign. They declare God has a people
whom he chose and whom Christ redeemed by his effectual sacrifice. man dead in sin, till God quickens
him, and the Holy Spirit calls, and they will persevere. You
see, all of these men believed the same gospel. No, they differed
on three or four things. They differed on baptism. When
they came out of Catholicism, so many of them brought some
grave clothes with them. They didn't shut them off. They
brought some with them. And they just couldn't part with
that, that procedure and ceremony with the infant. When a baby
was born, they just had to do something to set it apart from
all other babies born to heathen parents. They had to make them,
they had to include them in a covenant and include them in a church
membership and include them so they sprinkled them and dedicated
them and confirmed them or whatever. And just about every one of them
kept that except the Baptist. They were the only ones who declared
that baptism is by immersion, and baptism is for believers.
You got to believe, and then you're baptized. Whosoever believeth,
and he is baptized, you see. Baptism is for believers. It's
confession, not of what you might get someday, but what God has
given you now. And the Baptists were different.
So they wrote their confession of faith. The Church of England
wrote theirs in 1560. Thirty-nine And the Baptists wrote theirs
in 1689, called the London or Philadelphia Confession of Faith.
You can get a copy of it, Philadelphia Confession. And then the Presbyterians
wrote theirs in 1643, called the Westminster Confession of
Faith. And let me tell you something,
you may find this hard to believe, but you can—and the Dutch wrote
the Heidelberg. The Dutch Heidelberg is one of
the oldest confessions of faith in existence. I preached for
these people, the Dutch Reform, the Netherland Reform. I preached
for them for months over a period of four or five years in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. Solid people who love Christ
and believe God's on the throne and man's a sinner in Adam and
Christ saved sinners by blood, by his grace. We didn't agree
on baptism. We didn't agree on church government.
They have their sinners. They had the ruling elders who
would go around spying on people, make sure they don't watch TV
or take a Sunday paper or something like that, you know. And they
had this, including infants in church membership. And they had
their church government rules and all this sort of thing. But
they had the gospel of Christ. And I studied these men, and
you may be astounded, but all these major—the 39 articles? The Baptist Confession of 1689,
the Westminster, the Heidelberg, in 1563, they were solid on who
God is, and what we are by nature, and what God does in saving sinners
in Christ who died. And they wrote the hymns, the
Church of England, Isaac Watts, at the cross, at the cross, John
There's a fountain filled with blood. William Cooper, amazing
grace. John Knox. John Knox, oh, what
a giant. Huss. Zwingli. Luther. Calvin. These men died
for what they believed, didn't they, Paul? I found out they
loved the gospel. Well, you say, what in the world
happened to them? They're just churches now. They
don't preach anything. They're Presbyterian churches
all over this land. They don't believe anything.
There's some who do now. I preached them two or three.
And they're the Episcopalians. They parted totally. The Baptist works right back to works for salvation. I'll tell
you what happened. They left the doctrine of Christ.
They left the gospel of Christ. And that's the very thing that
Paul is warning them. He said, they'll come in among
you, even of yourself, grievous wolves. They'll devour the flock
and lead them away from Christ. And that's the reason Paul wrote
to this church at Ephesus. And I'll tell you, our churches individually, wherever
we are, wherever we've got a faithful man in the pulpit, to stand firmly
on these old, on the Word of God. But when I mention these
confessions of faith, these are men and women who bound, who
were bound together and brought themselves together and declared
to the world, we believe the Word of God. And this is what
we believe. Paul sets his forethought here
in Ephesians 1, and that's what I want to look at this morning.
Here's this doctrine of Christ. Here's this gospel of Christ.
Here it is. Now the writers, Paul, his authors,
he says in verse 1, is an apostle of Christ, his authority by the
will of God. To whom does he write? The saints
and the faithful. And he, his prayer for them is
grace. and mercy from God our Father,
grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now verse one,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
God. What is it to bless God? It's
to praise the Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's to praise Him. It's to congratulate
God for His greatness. is to ascribe to Him all the
glory and all the honor and all the praise. Blessed be the God. Bless God, O my soul, and all
that's within me. Bless His holy name, who healeth
all thy diseases, who forgiveth all thy iniquities, who bless—fills
your mouth with good things, who's blessed us with all blessings,
Bless God. Bless God. You know, our Lord
said, A man can receive nothing except it be given him from God. And then Paul asked this question,
Who makes you to differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
Now, if you received it, why would you gloat as if you didn't
receive it? So bless God. Bless the Father. Praise His name. And then he
says he's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our
Lord said to Mary, after he'd risen from the tomb, he said,
don't touch me. Don't cling to me. Don't try
to keep me here. He didn't mean, you'll defile
me if you touch me. That's not what he meant at all.
He said, I'm not going back to the Father right now. I'm going
to be here for a while. So don't cling to me. Don't try
to keep me. up with you." He said, now watch
where he said, I go to my Father and your Father. I go to my God
and your God. And that's what he's saying here.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is His God and my God. Who is His Father and my Father. That's right. The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, because He's our covenant Redeemer, because
He's our representative, this God and Father is not God and
Father. I say I'm a Father. Now I know
there's a sense in which God is the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He'll never be to me. He's the only begotten Son. He's
the Son of His love. He's the well-beloved. The kingdom
is the kingdom of His one Son. But nevertheless, in Christ,
I'm a son of God. My God and Father. Now look at
the next line. He's blessed us. The Father has blessed us. The
blessings are from the Father. Every blessing you have spiritually
is from the Father. It originated with Him. He's
the cause of it. He's the giver of it. Of Him
are you in Christ? It's not your will that puts
you in Christ, it's His will. Of Him are you in Christ, for
of God is made unto us all spiritual blessing. Now these are not common,
temporal, earthly blessings he's talking about here. So many religions
today are so interested in the earthly blessing, but they're
all going to fade away. The fashion of this world fadeth
away. Use this world as not abusing. It's temporary. And we're not
talking about temporary blessing. We're talking about all spiritual
blessings. Our God, are you in Christ who
our God has made unto you wisdom? That's something you'll never
lose. And you may forget your name someday. You may forget
where your house is, and that may be, but you'll never forgive
him, and he'll never forgive you, you see. You have spiritual
wisdom in Christ in the heavenlies. This is not down here. This is
in the heavenlies reserved for you. He has blessed you with
all wisdom, all righteousness. Our sanctification, holiness,
and our redemption, these are not common temporal blessings.
These are heavenly spiritual blessings that will never pass
away. And listen, he has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings already in Christ. You have in
Christ everything you'll ever need to walk the streets of glory. to stand in the presence of God.
That's right. All spiritual blessings. All
of them. He hath made us meet, qualified,
sufficient, fit to inherit all that Christ has bought for us.
All spiritual blessings. All that heaven can bestow is
already yours. All that heaven can require is
already yours. And where is it? It's in Christ.
That's, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies,
in Christ. They're all, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You're complete in Him. It's in Christ, that's where
it is. You're all blessed. Now look
at the next verse. According as he, we're still
talking about the Father, aren't we? Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has already blessed us with everything
we'll ever need in Christ. And he did it because he chose
us in Christ. He chose us in Christ. We didn't
choose him. He chose us. And that was necessary
because we will not come to him that we might have life. That's
what he said. You will not come. He said to Israel, how often
I've gathered you, but you would not. There's none that understandeth,
none that doeth good, and none that seeketh after God. He said,
I chose you. And he told Israel this. Let's
look at some Scripture. Look at Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy
chapter 7, the little nation Israel whom God chose in the
Old Testament as an example, as a as a pattern, a picture
of the true church. In Deuteronomy 7, verse 6, look
at this. He said this so clearly to Israel. He said in Deuteronomy 7, 6,
you're a holy people unto the Lord your God. The Lord didn't
choose you to be a special people unto himself. The Lord hath chosen
you to be a special people unto himself above all people upon
the face of the earth. And he didn't send his love upon
you nor choose you because you were more in number than any
people. You were the fewest of all. But here was the basis of
his choice. He loved you. He loved you. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. Therefore with a loving kindness
have I drawn you. He loved you. He would keep the
earth He swore to your fathers. He's going to keep His covenant.
He gave Christ to people. He gave Christ to people in an
everlasting covenant. Made them Him the shepherd and
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And
Christ said, All that my Father gave me will come to thee. That's
right. He said, I didn't, he said to
Israel, I didn't choose you because you were more in number, because
I loved you. And because I keep my word to
Abraham. And to see that Abraham Christ,
I keep my word. And then in Deuteronomy 14, he
said it again, listen to Deuteronomy, speaking to Israel now, Deuteronomy
14. Verse 2, The Lord, thou art a
holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen
thee to be a peculiar people unto himself above all nations
that are upon the earth. We're a holy nation. We're a
royal priesthood, he said. We're a chosen generation. We're
a peculiar people. The Lord hath chosen you to be
such. Then he said to his disciples, you didn't choose me. John 13,
verse 18. You've read it many times. He
said, you didn't choose me. I chose you. I chose you. And then he said in John 15,
listen to this. In John chapter 15, verse 16,
our Lord said to his disciples, you've
not chosen me. I've chosen you. and ordains
you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain. And whatsoever you shall ask
of the Father in my name, he'll give it. Now these things I command
you that you love one another. Now if you, if, if, if the world
hate you, you know it hated me before it hated you. But if you
were of the world, the world would love his own. But you're
not of the world. I have chosen you as the world,
therefore the world hateth you." So he declared it to Israel,
he declared it to the Twelve, and he declares it to us here
in Ephesians 1. Verse 4, according as he chose
us in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the
world. before the foundation of the world. Known unto God
are all His works from the beginning. God doesn't do anything in time
that He didn't decree in eternity. He knows all things. That's the
foreknowledge of God, and the foreknowledge of God is based
on the foreordination of God. God knows something will come
to pass because He ordained it to come to pass. The reason you
and I don't know what's going to happen in the next five minutes
is we have no power to make it happen. I have no control over
anything. My breath, my eyesight, nothing. I cannot tell you what's going
to take place. I get amused with these commentators
on television. They always talk about what's
going to happen, what's going to happen. They don't know what's going
to happen. I know who does, because he has the power to make it happen. He's able. He has all wisdom
and knowledge and power. And Paul wrote to the church
at Thessalonica. He said, I'm bound to give thanks
to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God had from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Not chosen you just to service. You'll serve him. Not just chosen
you to good works. You'll do good works. Not just
chosen you to go to heaven. You'll go to heaven. He chose
to save you. by the salvation in Christ, through
sanctification of the spirit belief of the truth, for unto
he called you by a gospel. Who did? He did. I'm bound to
give thanks for you brethren, beloved of the Father, the Lord
God. He chose you. He called you. He predestinated you. That's
right. Oh, that's just, that's a blessing,
truth. And when Paul preached there
to the people in Acts 13, the scripture says, and the Gentiles
rejoiced to hear the gospel. And all that were ordained alive,
what'd they do? They believed. They believed. They rejoiced and they believed.
They rejoiced to hear the truth, to hear the gospel, to hear the
good news. to hear the declaration of independence
from sin and captivity. He set the prisoner free, set
the prisoner free. Our Lord said to those Pharisees
one day, you know the truth, it'll make you free. Well, that
upset them. They said, we're not in bondage.
We never been in bondage. He replied, he that committed
is the servant of sin. Oh, boy, that puts us all in
bondage, doesn't it? You ever been in bondage? You
bet your life you have. Bondage to sin. What I would
do, I don't do. What I wouldn't do, I do. What's
wrong? I'm a slave to sin. And a natural man's a slave to
sin. You're in bondage to sin. You're
bondage to the law, to the curse of the law, to sin. You're bondage
to death. You're going to die and you can't
do anything about it. They're going to put you in a grave and
you can't come out. But the Son does. The Son abides
in the Father's house. And if the Son sets you free,
you free boy. That's where it is now. That's
where it is. It's not, if you do anything,
if he's pleased, that leper said, Lord, if you will, you can make
me whole. You can set this prisoner free
if you will, because you've got the righteousness with which
to do it and the blood with which to cleanse him and the ransom
with which to deliver him. That's good news now. Go down to that fella in prison
and say, now, if you can get that lock jammed, and you can
get out of that isolation, and when you get down there, oh,
you can get past that garage, and if you can get on the outside
of those walls that are 12 feet high with a barbed wire and electric
fence, and if you can get out that main gate, I'll have a car
out there waiting on you, and I'll take you home. Oh, brother,
you take the first step and I'll help you. I can't take the first
step, I'm dead. I've got to have Him give me
life. That's what He did. He blessed you with all spiritual
blessings because He chose you in Christ before the foundation
of the world. And verse 5 says, The Father
predestinated you to the adoption of sons. Now there is a, this
is just clearly simple and plain. Election has to do with people. has to do with choosing people
in Christ. Turn to Isaiah 42. Isaiah 42. Now, this is a clear up predestination,
election. This is makes it so plain, never
have any more problem with it. Isaiah 42, 1, talking about Christ. Our Heavenly Father says, Behold,
my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighted,
I put my spirit upon him, and he'll bring forth judgment to
the Gentiles. He'll not cry nor lift up his
voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets. And
verse four, he shall not fail or be discouraged. This is my
elect. I chose him. I set my love upon
him. I put my spirit in him. He's
a person. That's Christ. Christ. All right? In Christ, we are
elect. Christ be my first elect," God
said, then chose us in our head. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. So election has to do with people.
It's not that I didn't choose thee, Lord, that could not be.
This heart of mine will still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen
me. So he let choose you in Christ
before the world began, that you should be holy. Not because
you're holy, that you should be. And without blame. Not because
you're without blame, but it should be. And he predestinated
you to be what you're going to be. Election has to do with people. Predestination has to do with
what those people are going to be. They're going to be something. Both places, predestination is
used in the Bible four times, perhaps five if you count four
nations in 1 Peter. But listen how it's used here
now, and in Romans 2, listen. Verse five, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children. That's my, that's His goal for
us. That's His purpose for us. That's
His will for us, that we should be what? Sons of God. Sons of
God. conformed to the image of his
beloved son. Look at verse 11, the word predestination again.
In whom we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his will. Who gets the inheritance? A son. A son. He's predestinated. He chose
you. And here's the purpose for which he chose you. Here's the
goal. Here's the end result. A son, like his beloved son,
who's an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. That's what
we're going to be. If it's humbling predestination,
I said, don't you want to be like Christ? Well, yeah, that's
what it's got to do with, being like Christ. Turn to Romans
8, the words used two times in Romans 8. He's only four times,
like I say, unless you count 1 Peter, where the four knowledge
of God is predestination. Romans 8, listen, verse 28. Romans 8, 28. And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to
them who are called according to his purpose. His purpose. What's he going to do with us?
For whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son." Heaven is going to be full of people
like Christ. That's predestinated to be like
Christ. Read on. "...to the image of
his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."
Look over there to the left of that. Verse 16 of Romans 8. bear witness with our spirits,
we're children of God, and if children, then heirs, inheritance,
heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer
with Him, we may be glorified together. The Son is the heir. The Son is the heir. And the
sons and daughters are the heirs in the Son. That's right. And that's what predestination
has. I don't back off for a moment.
God chose the people. He chose them. He said, I call
them by name, just like he calls every star by name. I know whom
I've chosen, he said. The foundation of God standeth
sure, the Lord knoweth them that are his. He said to those false
professors in Matthew 7 at the judgment, I never knew you. I
know my sheep. I lay down my life for my sheep.
I chose them. You didn't choose me, I chose
you. All right, let me give you an example. Here's Joseph, one
of the twelve sons of Jacob. A poor young man from a family
of farmers and sheepherders. There were so few of them. There
weren't but seventy of them when they went down in Asia. That
whole clan, just a few of them. And Joseph was one of the twelve
sons. But that Joseph is going to be
king of Egypt. God predestinated it now. That
boy, son of a hated Jew, is going to reign on the throne of the
most powerful nation in the world. God predestinated it. And Almighty
God worked all of the particulars and all of the events and all
the things that happened to Joseph. When he came down there bragging
about that coat, you never thought that would fit into this plan,
did you? And when those boys threw him in that pit, if you're
going to be on the throne, you're headed the wrong way. And when
he was in prison in Egypt, he was in prison. They don't make
kings out of prisoners. God does. He lifted the barrier
from the down here and sent him on the throne. That's where God
gets his kings, is out of the dunghill of the prisons, sets
a prisoner free. But you can't do that. I can't
do that. He can. Whom he foreknew, he
predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son and reign
with Christ, sons of God. And whom he predestinated, he
called And whom He called, He wiped them clean, gave them a
new life, made them new creatures, justified them. And whom He justified,
He'll glorify. You ain't never seen nothing
yet till you see His people around His throne, praising His Son. That's right. And He did it,
verse 6, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He
made us accepted in the beloved. That's what the pastor is talking
about, folks. They're talking about they accepted Jesus. I
didn't. He accepted me. I believed on
Him because He revealed the truth and I love Him because He loved
me. I called on Him because He called me. I sought Him because
He sought me. And God the Father accepted me
in Him. He accepted us. You're accepted.
You're not acceptable, you're accepted. That's right. That's right. He accepted you.
In the beloved, accepted. That's Pius X, isn't it? Am I? Risen, ascended, or really seated
on high. Saved from all sin through his
infinite grace, with the redeemed ones accorded a place. Now look
at verse 7. Why did he accept us? I'll tell
you why. Because in Christ we have redemption
through his blood. It didn't say redemption through
his birth. No, it didn't. It didn't say
redemption through his power. It didn't say redemption through
his grace or love. Blood. His blood. You said that on the radio this
morning. God forgives sin, but only through a sacrifice. Only
through the blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. Now that's the message all the
way through the Old Testament. Abel came with a label. And God accepted him. God had respect to his offering. And God accepted you. Us to him
is here because he had respect to Christ's offering. That's
the reason and the only reason he accepted us. That's right. That's the story always through.
The Old Testament priest went into the Holy of Holy, not without
blood. Moses purified the altar with
the blood, the people with the blood, the tabernacle with the
blood, all things with blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. This generation's done everything
in its power to obliterate the blood from the songbook and from
the messages. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. I've given it to you upon the
altar to make an atonement for your soul. He said it's the blood
that maketh atonement for the soul. Precious blood. Precious blood. In Christ we
don't. We have redemption through his
blood and the forgiveness of sin. How many sins? All sins. Sins I hadn't even committed
yet. You know that shakes people up. I don't know why. I had a
friend that preached to a group of people one night, and he said,
Christ died for our sins, all our past sins, present sins,
and future sins. They just got all shook up, you
know. I tell you, when he died, all
my sins were future. I wasn't hanging around Ashland,
Kentucky. I've been there a long time, but I ain't been there
that long. When he died, all my sins were future. And all
of Moses' sins were passed. But he took care of past sins
and future sins through his blood. And by his stripes were healed.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sins. You've got sins you don't even
know about. Only God knows them. They're secret sins. We don't
know enough about holiness to know what sin is, really. If
we did, it would We ought to shake this up. But God has forgiven
us of all sins according to the riches of His grace. Now, what's
this? In Christ we have forgiveness,
we have redemption, and we have wisdom. Listen to verse 8. Wherein
He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, He hath
made known unto us. This is what the Apostle is talking
about. He's made known unto us the mystery. The gospel's a mystery. That's the reason people don't
hear it, because it's a mystery. But when God gives them eyes,
they see. When He gives them ears, they
hear. When He gives them an understanding heart, they understand the mystery
of His will according to the good pleasure which He purposed
in Himself. He's given us wisdom. Turn for
a moment with me to 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This was our problem. This was
my problem for all those years that I was in church and trying
to preach and didn't know the gospel. This was my problem.
1 Corinthians 2, 14. I was a natural man. Verse 14. The natural man. I was born of
the flesh. I was born of the Spirit. Receive
it not the things of the Spirit of God. He won't receive them. Why won't he receive them? There's
foolishness to it. He thinks he's got a better way.
He thinks he's got a better plan. He's got a plan that won't offend
people. He's got a plan that won't be
that old-fashioned bloody religion. He's got a plan that man can
do something and God will be happy with him. He's got a plan
that'll take a whole lot more people to heaven than God intended
to take that. He doesn't receive that foolishness
term, and listen, he can't know them. Why can't he know them? They're spiritually understood,
and he has no spirit. He has no spiritual life. He
has no understanding. But verse 15 says, he that is
spiritual, he discerneth, he understandeth all things. Now,
he himself, he's not understood of anybody. Folks don't understand
him. They understood you when you
were in religion. But when God revealed the gospel
to you, even your closest loved ones didn't understand you. They
don't understand what you're talking about. You're talking
about grace, they're talking about works. You're talking about
something God did, they're talking about something they did. You're
talking about grace in the heart, they're talking about healing
in the soul. You're talking about fact, they're talking about healing
and emotion. You're not talking the same way.
God revealed them unto us. That's it. Christ, verse 9, hath
made known unto us the mystery of his will. God, Lord, teach
me your way. Listen, if a man with a, if a
man with a discernment of Moses can ask these three things, at
least we could ask them. He said, Lord, show me your way. Looks like we could ask that.
We think we know everything. I don't know anything. Lord,
show me your way. Leave me in a plain path. Secondly,
show me your glory. Show me your glory. Would you
show me your glory? And God said, yes, I will. I'll
be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I'll be merciful
to whom I will be merciful. That's my glory. And Lord, thirdly,
he said, if you don't go with me, don't let me go that way.
Stop me. Arrest me. Don't let me go the
way I naturally will go. Don't let me think the things
I naturally will think. Don't let me say the things that
fools say. Teach me your way. I'm just a
child. Is that what the prophet said?
I'm just a child. Oh, he's given us wisdom. Then
in verse 10, let me finish this. Be patient. And Christ has given
us redemption, forgiveness, wisdom, knowledge of his way. Verse 10,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of time he might gather
together in one all things in Christ. And you know what our
Lord said, used the word he used, in one, that they may be perfect
in one. Righteousness. Perfect in one. as you love me, glorified as
you glorify me, and perfect in one." That's righteousness he's
given us. Verse 11, he's given us an inheritance. Watch this, "...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." What is this inheritance? It's undefiled,
incorruptible. It faded not away. It's reserved
in heaven for you who are kept for the power of God. It's the
joint heir with Christ of everything he has purchased and he has accepted."
Well, what about rewards, preacher? Well, what about them? Preachers
today are always talking about The first thing I learned about
that was this. In reference to believers, the
word is never plural. It's never rewards. It's always
singular. Reward. And that reward is defined
the first time the word is used in the Bible. The very first
time that word is used in the Bible. Reward. Where is it? Genesis
15. Turn over there. Genesis 15. They talk about all these different
7-fold crowns and 411 crowns and mansions and all these things. But here in Genesis 15, verse
1, God called Abraham. First time
word used. Reward. After these things the
word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram, I am thy shield. And I am thy exceeding great
reward. I'm your reward. I'm your reward. You have me, you have everything
God has. Let me ask you four questions.
If every believer in this building is a son and daughter of God,
tell me what he can have greater than that. What could heaven,
earth, or anybody, hand him that be greater than the fact he's
a son or daughter of God. Secondly, if every believer here
is a joint heir with Christ of all things, what's not included? Is there a little crowd over
here that's not included in all things? Come on now! What is not included in all things? So what could I add to you, John,
if you have all things in Christ? Thirdly, if every believer is
like Christ, I mean conformed to his image, his exact likeness,
what on earth could you add to that? Hang something around my neck,
an Olympic medal or something? I don't want to be different,
I want to be like you. If every believer is a king-priest
who reigns with Christ, what crown can you add to that? Oh, I tell you, this reward business
is nothing in the world but some more of that means and methods
to get people to do what they don't want to do. to get religious
people to give what they don't want to give, and go where they
don't want to go, and do what they don't want to do. That's
what it's for. But when you've got Christ as
your reward, everything you do is because you love Him. That's
so. All right, I'll close with verse
13 and 14. In whom you trusted. You trusted. When did you trust? after you
heard the word of truth. That's the reason we must not
let this slip away from us, like all these denominations I told
you about to start with. You buy the truth and don't sell
it. You buy the pearl of great price
and don't let anybody rob you of it. That's right, don't you
do it. Buy the truth, isn't that that
verse Paul said, buy the truth and sell it not. I mean, Esau
sold it a mess of pottage. There are preachers today who
sold it for a bigger church. I had a young man call me two
weeks ago, an assistant pastor up near Charleston, West Virginia. He said, for five years I promised
to keep my mouth shut about what I believed, the grace of God.
Now they're going to fire me because it came out on me. How'd
he do that? He sold the truth. He wants to
know what he can do. I don't know what he can do.
I don't know whether God will have you or not, son. I don't
know. You sat by the fire and denied
the Lord for five years. I don't know whether he'll have
you or not. As for you, I'd just go somewhere where there's preaching
the gospel and keep my mouth shut and sit there about two
years and see if God will have anything to do with me. Don't
you sell the truth. You lay the banner down, God
may not let you ever pick it up again. The United States Army
won't. You lay your gun down and turn
and run, and they won't let you back in the service. You're dishonorable.
They'll discharge you. Now, if the people of the world
do that, what will God do? Don't lay it down. How could
you? How could I? How could I deny
Him? You trusted after you heard the
word of truth, the gospel, your salvation, in whom you believed.
You trusted, you believed after you heard the gospel of your
salvation. This gospel here is, as Paul
said, not another gospel, this gospel. And then what happened? He sealed you. And when you're
sealed, you don't spawn. When you're sealed, you're sealed. He sealed you in Christ. No man can pluck him out of my
hand. Nobody can pluck him out of my father's hand. My Father
is greater than all, let's see you, the Spirit. And He's our
earnest, our pledge. Now that, what I've just preached
to you, is what the Reformation was all about. Christ alone,
grace alone, faith alone. My words. Thank you, Pastor. So let me
share the morning with you. It's been a blessing. Thank you. Not add a word to that. 449,
let's sing. This is a fitting hymn to sing. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. Let's stand. Stand, but sing
first and last. Well, can't leave out verse two. First and second, that's the
last. First and second verse. me. Me. And the light gave that away
to me. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth
hear his word. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! He's the man who Jesus, the Son,
and the hymn of glory, great things He hath done. The promise of God, the promise
of freedom, which will lead me there. The promise of freedom,
the promise of freedom, is an open door. I say freedom now.