Now you can turn with me in your
Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3. I'll post this letter, my brother
Bill, up on the, I'll make another copy and post one on each bulletin
board so you can read it again for yourself. First Peter chapter
three, we're going to read one verse of scripture here in a
moment. Now, this message was born. My wife told me she was
talking to someone, a couple recently, and they began speaking,
talking about the gospel. And she said the door didn't
really open for her. She didn't feel like she had
much liberty in speaking to them. And I asked her, point blank,
I said, what did you tell them? She was first, she was talking
about how it was sad that people didn't ask you what you believe. You know how it is when you talk
to people, when questions arise about your church or whatever,
they don't ask what you believe or what y'all preach down there.
They ask how many and what do you do and what color your curtain
is, this sort of thing. But she was saying, I was ashamed
that they didn't ask, what do you believe? What do you preach
down there? I said, well, what would you have told them? What
would you tell them if they asked you, what do you believe? And
it made me start thinking, and she was on the spot. And she
began trying to tell me what she would say. And let me ask
you the same question. If someone were to ask you, what
do you Believe. What would you say? Just come
right out. I wish people would ask that
question, but they don't. But if the situation ever arises,
maybe it has. What do you all preach down there?
What do you believe? What would you say? What would
be your answer to that question? Can you? Could you? Could you
give an answer? Could you? I have a feeling maybe
some are already squirming. Right? Let's be honest. I hope
after this message that you'll be helped somewhat to be able
to know what to say. But this is vital. It's vital
that we know what to say, how to deal with these situations.
It's vital. It's vital, first of all, to the person you're
talking to. That's a potential or a possible
sheep. whom God has put in our before
us to possibly witness to. So it's vital to that person,
right? And it's also vital to your profession of faith. Evidently,
it's very important, and we'll see this from this verse of Scripture,
that we be able to express our faith. Very important. This is
one of the trials of our faith, that we be able to tell our faith,
to be able to If asked, what do you believe? Would you say
we believe in God? Well, the Bible says that the
devil believes that, and tremble. Well, would you say we believe
in the Bible? Well, everybody says that. And again, I answer,
the devil believes the Bible. He uses it, doesn't he? He can
quote scripture. If you say we believe in Jesus,
everybody says that, and I would ask you, which one? If you said
we believe in the gospel, we preach the gospel down there.
What gospel? Paul said there's another gospel
going around. If you say we believe the gospel of God's sovereign
grace, well, what's that? Describe it to me. It doesn't
mean anything to anybody, does it? Sovereign grace. If you say
we believe in election, what's that? There's so many different
definitions of election. People believe it. The election
is God voting for you, and Satan voting against you, and you casting
a deciding vote. Explain yourself. If you say
we believe in particular redemption, what do you mean? What do you
mean? These things don't necessarily mean anything to anybody. We
need to be able to explain ourselves. Well, look here at 1 Peter chapter
3 with me. Look at verse 15. Peter says,
Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Sanctify the Lord God. That means, the word means set
apart. You know that. And I'll break this down a little
bit. That means to have your mind
and affection set on God. Be thinking about Him. Ready
to praise, to exalt, to tell what a great God you have and
what great things He has done for you. I believe that's what
he's saying there. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. In other words, in your heart,
you need to be assured within yourself. You need to be firmly
persuaded in your own heart whom you believe. Not just what, but
there must be a personal knowledge of a person in your heart before
you're going to be bold to speak about him, right? You're not
going to be bold to speak about somebody that you don't know.
Doctrine's not going to hold you up in a time of trial and
persecution. Only a person that you're firmly
persuaded you know. And that's what he's saying there.
Set apart, sanctify the Lord God in your own heart and be
ready. Look at it. Everybody look at
it. Be ready. Be ready always to give an answer
to every man. that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear." Now, we've seen this
verse many times, haven't we? Everyone here has probably seen
this verse. We need to be able—we need to be able, ready, and willing
to tell anyone what we believe, why we believe what we believe.
Because in a day, and I've read estimates as high as this, that
one out of every two American adults claims to be a Christian.
I read a survey. One out of two adults in America
claims to be a Christian. In a day of so many Christians
in every sort of religious group, there are hundreds, literally
hundreds of denominations that supposedly go under the same
title of Christianity and use the same book, the Bible, albeit
many variations of the Bible. But in a day of so many different
denominations and so many different beliefs and methods, the difference
in the true and false can only be known two ways, by your profession
and your confession. There's a difference. Your profession,
now bear with me, your profession of faith is what you believe.
Your confession of faith is how you act according to what you
believe, and they're inseparable. There's a difference. Profession
of faith, what you believe. Confession of faith is how you
act and live according to what you believe. Confess, that is,
your life and heart and mind and so forth is consumed with
what you believe. From the outset, let me say this.
Whatever we claim to believe, whatever answers we give to anybody,
whenever you're talking to somebody, whatever answers we give to somebody,
we need to be able to give them to them from where? From what? Our thoughts? Our things? What? The scriptures, right? We need to be able to give people
answers from the scriptures or else we're no different, no better,
and it's all a matter of what they say, interpretation, or
it's all a matter of I think this, will you think that, we'll
all get there. No, we need to be able to go to the scriptures,
especially in our day because nobody uses the scriptures, and
we'll be the odd men out, and we'll be the ones that are closest
to the truth by using just simply using God's word. But we must
be able to answer from the scriptures or else it's not biblical truth.
Now listen, what I think and what you think doesn't amount
to a hill of beans. Doesn't amount to anything. Nothing. It's vanity.
It's useless. Useless. Even our commentary.
They may be good. Our words, our thoughts may be
good. The Lord may bless us. But still, what God uses is his
word. He said, My word shall not return
void. God speaks to people's heart
by his word, not our word. It may strike a note and an interest
in God's word, but it's the word. And if somehow we can come up
with just a word in season, appropriately used, be able to wisely and prudently
use the scriptures in a certain situation, God may use that. And so we're responsible to to
find the scripture. And our answers must be in context
from the word of God because everybody's got this problem.
They're what my pastor called versitis and they reach in and
grab a verse here and grab a verse there. Well, you know what says
in the Bible, you know, and then they butcher some verse of scripture.
They take it out of the center of some epistle somewhere and
say, well, that's what it says. Our answers need to be in context.
We need to know the context. of what our answers are. Because,
and I just quoted it, no scripture is of any private interpretation. No scripture is of any private
interpretation. Does anybody know where that
scripture is found? We always use that scripture, don't we?
2 Peter 1, verse 20. No scripture is of any private
or personal interpretation. I'd see anybody write that down. 2 Peter 1, verse 20. No scriptures
of any private interpretation. You can tell that to somebody.
It doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter, because God
is true. Man is false. God is true. God's Word is true. Everything
else is a lie, just theory. There's one gospel, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, and so forth. So here it is. Let's get
into it. from God's Word what we believe. This is our faith. This is what
we believe. I want you to write a few things
down. I'm going to go into great detail
on some of these things because that's what I'm doing. I'm preaching. I'm teaching. I'm going to go
into great detail, but there's some things, there's some highlights
of this I want you to remember. It will be helpful, I assure
you. It will be very helpful if you're interested in knowing
how Being able to give an answer to every man and ask you the
reason for the hope that's within you. And you can write these
down and above all, memorize them. I mean, let me tell you,
it might be a good thing. I used to do this, and I know
some people do this, carry a Bible around with them. Until we memorize
these things, have them written, until the word of God is written
on our heart and we can readily recall it. a little ladies for
the Bible in your purse and put a put one in your back pocket.
That's wrong with that at all everything right with as a matter
of fact start talking to somebody and say well this is what I think
what do you think. Well let's see what God says
got it right here if you don't run them off. I don't know you
may bless the time but it might be a good idea I used to I'm
not bragging I'm just telling you for my own sake my own help
I used to carry one around my pocket where I work for my own
to resort to, you know, wait a minute, wait a minute, and
pull it out. But that might be a good thing. But let me sum up our faith.
Could you sum up in one verse of Scripture, could you sum up
in one verse of Scripture what we believe about salvation here
at this church? We claim to be sovereign grace.
That's not a biblical term. That's not a biblical... Sovereign
is not a word in the Bible. It's not. rain is grace rain
that they're seeing rain on the day of even so much grace rain
right through Jesus Christ our Lord that's a scripture but could
you sum up. With one verse of scripture one
very short verse of scripture what we believe. I quoted probably
every time I get in the cockpit. Anybody I anybody. That's good. This is a faithful
saying, Jonah 2.9. Anybody quote it? Salvation is
of the Lord. That would sum it all up. That's the clearest, most concise
scripture in all the Bible, as far as I'm concerned, that tells
people what we believe here. Salvation is of the Lord. It's pretty hard to misconstrue
what that's saying. Now, if you want to go in, and
then we're going to go in depth in what's that saying here in
a minute. Jonah 2, 9. Memorize it. Write her down.
Put it on your dashboard, on your refrigerator. Jonah 2, 9. Jonah 2, 9. Salvation is of the
Lord. Now, let me go a little further
and explain that. If given the opportunity, they
say, what do you believe down there? You say, we believe that
salvation is of the Lord, Jonah 2.9. Now, if the door is open
for it to go further, you might explain it this way. We believe
that the saving of somebody's soul is completely in the hands
of God Almighty from start to finish. Doesn't that explain
what we believe here? Yeah, it does. Anybody can remember
that. Anybody. We believe the saving
of somebody's soul, of a human soul, is completely in the hands
of God Almighty from start to finish. Now, if the door remains
open, if they're still standing in front of you, you go a little
further. You say, we believe that man
has nothing to do with his eternal destiny. Nothing to do with his
eternal destiny, but it's entirely in the will, in the purpose,
in the application of God Almighty. That goes a little bit further.
If you go a little bit further than that, you say the will,
the decision, the works, the morality of man plays no part
whatsoever in the saving of his soul. Only the will, the decision,
the works, the righteousness of the Lord God. And all of that
can be summed up in that one simple verse of Scripture. Salvation
is of the Lord. How many times have you heard
it? Remember that verse of Scripture. Jonah 2, 9. Salvation is of the
Lord. Now, I'm going to give you five
points. Five points. Not the five points
of Calvinism, though they're contained here. I don't know
if my biggest thing to memorize, too, look. You know to look. But I want to simplify that even
further, because people don't know those terms when you talk
about total depravity, they don't even know what that means. Talk
about unconditional election, they're not sure what you're
talking about. Limited atonement, they don't have any idea what
you're talking about. Irresistible, particular. They
don't know those terms. I mean, let me give you five
points and give you some scriptures, I'll give you With each point,
I'll give you one particular scripture that you need to memorize
in regards to these points. First point, under this thing
of salvation of the Lord, what we believe. And I say this nearly
every time I stand in the pulpit. We believe that God is God, right? That's what we believe, that's
what we preach at every opportunity, that God is God. Not man, not Satan. God is God
in the truest sense of the word. Almighty, all-powerful. Here
is the best, one of the best verses of Scripture that I believe
you can give somebody. It's in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah
45. Now, you could start in the book
of Isaiah, chapter 40, and just browse through from 40 to 60
and find plenty of verses of scripture to give to anybody.
So if you need someplace to refer to readily, remember Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45 is about as clear as
any of them, about as pointed. Isaiah 45, verse 5. He says, the Lord God is speaking
himself. He says, I am the Lord. There
is none else. There is no God. And beside me
I girded you, that is, I clothed you, though you have not known
me. That they may know from the rising
of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me,
I am the Lord, there is none else. I form the light, create
darkness, I make peace, create evil, I, the Lord, do all these
things." He's God, isn't he, John? Ain't no other. One God. Can you think of another one
over in Daniel? Daniel, anybody? 435. All the inhabitants, this
might be a better one to remember. This might be the ultimate verse
of scripture to remember concerning God being God. All the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or stay under him What
are you doing? He's God. Daniel 435 imprinted
in your brain and on your heart. Daniel 435. God is God. Men and women from the beginning
of time have made up all sorts of imagination or imaginable
sorts of gods, but there's always been only one God. One God and
he has certain attributes if you if you're able to go a little
further with somebody you can talk something about God that
you know anything about that. The gospel has been preached
here for fifteen years. Do you know any of God's attributes.
We need to know that we ought to hang our heads in shame if
we don't know four or five of God's attributes. We ought to
be ashamed. God is holy. Right? God is holy. That's right, that's the main
one. God is what? Just. Can you think of a scripture? He will by no means clear the
guilty. That's in Ezekiel 18, I think. He will by no means clear the
guilty. No, that's not in Ezekiel 18
either. I need to find that. I need to write that one down.
He will by no means clear the guilty. God is omnipotent, omnipresent,
omniscient. You know those terms. Omnipotent
is all power. omniscient. He knows all things.
Omnipresent. He is everywhere at one time.
God is mercy. God is love. God is love. There's no love outside of God. God is the Savior. He said, I'm
a just God and a Savior. Right? Well, God is God. Point number one. God is God. If you're talking to somebody,
that could be point number one. Man is. What would you say. God is God and man is dead. That's easy to remember. And
you think of a verse of scripture you go to right. You could go
to Genesis chapter 2 where God started the whole thing where
he said it all started. Genesis 2 17 in the day you eat
thereof you shall surely get sick. If you want to remember a scripture,
though, this is probably the one to describe man. Now, you
know, Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2, 13, say practically the same
thing. You have to be quick, and they
were dead in trespassing sin. Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2,
you may know those. But describing mankind, Psalm
14, Psalm 14, is the clearest description in my estimation
of mankind in the Bible. Paul quotes it where? Anybody
think of it? Paul quotes Psalm 14 in Romans
chapter 3 is where he quotes this. Psalm 14 it says right
here, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. They are
corrupt. They have done abominable works.
There is none that doeth good. And right here is the description
of man. And if you want to You know, point somebody to the script.
This is what it says about us. Not what I think. This is what
God's Word says about man, right here. The Lord looked down from
heaven upon the children of men to see if there were some, no,
not some, any, any, that did understand and seek God. What was this conclusion, verse
3? They are all gone. aside and
are all together become filthy. There is none that do good, no,
not one. And Paul said there in Romans
3, there's none righteous, no, not one. Psalm 14 describes man
to a T, doesn't it? Psalm 14, man is spiritually
dead and totally depraved. And listen to these scriptures.
Scripture says man's understanding is darkened. Scripture says,
God's thoughts are not our thoughts, and his way is not our way. That's
Isaiah 55. Man's will is evil. That's what
Paul said, and that's what the psalmist said right there. The
imaginations are evil continually. Genesis 6, 5. Man does not like
to retain God in his knowledge. This is easy to remember. Paul
talks about man in Romans 1 all the way through. He describes
mankind in Romans 1. all the way through, did not
like to retain God in their knowledge. They worshiped the creature more
than the creator. That's Romans 1. You can go there to describe
mankind very clearly. They said, well, that's a homosexual
and so forth. No, Paul went on to say that
there's no difference, no difference, no difference. The carnal mind
is enmity against God. Romans 8, Romans 8, the book
of Romans. We went through that. Romans
will teach you. Concerning mankind, Romans 8,
7, the carnal mind is enmity. We quote that quite a bit, don't
we? We didn't know where it's at. The carnal mind is against
God, is enmity against God, Romans 8, 7. There's no fear, and this
is one that you could remember. There's no fear of God before
their eyes, because what does the scripture say? The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, doesn't it? Before anybody
has any understanding, any saving knowledge whatsoever, the first
and foremost and principal understanding is what? The fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And Paul said that
in Romans 3, 18. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. And that perfectly describes
our generation then. No fear before their eyes. So
man is spiritually dead. He's dead. God is God. Man is
dead. And this is why it took God to
come down and save us. This is why we say salvation
is of the Lord. See, it all hinges on these two
points right there. When a man sees that God is God and that
we are dead, that we cannot do anything in and of ourselves,
no man can come unto me except the Father which hath sent me,
draw him. No man. that this is the reason that
God had to come and save us. That's your next conclusion,
or your next point. The person and the work of Jesus
Christ alone is what saves. The person and the work of Jesus
Christ alone is what saves. Now, we can talk about that in
limited tone or particular redemption and so forth. But this describes
it in modern language a little more clearly. The person and
the work of Jesus Christ alone is what saves us, is what saves
our eternal soul. Now turn over to John chapter
1 with me. John chapter 1. What would you
tell somebody if they asked you about how somebody is saved? How is somebody saved? What would
you say? How would you answer from the
scripture? Well, I'll tell you what the Lord said. He said to
Nicodemus in John three verse one. You must be born again,
verse seven. He said it again in verse three,
I believe, whatever. You must be born again. Now, for a man
to be saved, God Almighty has to do the saving. That's what
we've been talking about all this time. Where would you go?
I'd go to John chapter 1 right here. To talk about the new birth. This thing of the new birth.
Look at John chapter 1. It says here in verse 12, or
verse 10, look at verse 10. It says, He was in the world,
that is God, was in the world. I just said that God had to come
down to do the saving. He was in the world and the world
was made by Him. And the world knew him not. Now
he came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as
many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name." There, somebody
will say, well, but see, there, there you are. Faith, you're
born by faith. Who's to ever believe? No. There's
a coven there. Everybody likes to stop there,
don't they? As many as received him. John 1, 13. John 1, 13 is
a foundational truth of salvation. of the new birth, isn't it, you
ask? John 1, 13. Who believes? Who has this power
and this right and this privilege to become sons of God? Who becomes
a son of God? How is a man saved? He's born
from above, Christ said. How is he born? Or who gives
him birth? He's born of God, not born of
blood, not of the will. If you want to kill a man's description
of free will, Not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, but of God. Born of God. How is one born
of God? How is one born? What if they
asked you that? How is one born of God? Could
you answer? How is one born of God? Well,
go to the next verse. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. God came down here and dwelt
as a man. And then you go into the Gospel
story from there. Because men were dead in trespasses
and sin, without hope, without strength, without God, ungodly.
God had to come and do the saving. God had to do these things for
them. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous.
Man is unholy. Man is unjust. Man is unrighteous.
God can't have anything to do with man, because he hates all
workers of nickel and so forth. Well, then there's a question.
How, then, is God, who is holy, just, and righteous, going to
have anything to do with an unrighteous unholy unjust human being. That's
the question of all questions. Get them to that question. How
can God be just and justify ungodly sin? Have anything to do with
sin? People talk about, and this is
modern theology, that God hates sin, but he loves a sinner. No.
You can't separate the two, can you, Henry? No, they're one and
the same. I am what I do. It's me. I'm a sinner through
and through. hates me and my sin, God hateth
all workers of iniquity." Psalm 5, 5 and Psalm 7, 11. He's angry
with the wicked every day. How is this holy and just God
going to have anything to do with man? How? It's a good question. This is the gospel question.
This is the question of all questions. If you get this far, if you're
able to get this far with somebody and still have their attention,
this is the question of all questions. How is this just and holy? God
won't have anything to do with me. He can't. He's got to kill me and make
a new creature. He's got to destroy me, punish
my sins. My sins have to be punished.
He's got to make me a new creature. This is called goodness. It's the same way that the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself was born. In Matthew chapter 1, verse 20,
the Scripture says this, when He made that announcement to
Mary, to Joseph, it said, that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost, that Holy Thing, Son of God. And He's called
the Firstborn among many brethren, the Firstborn. And Terry, you
and I have to be born the same way, of the Holy Spirit, born
of God, that speed of people conceived in Christ. And I told
you, I want to go in depth in this thing a little bit, but
there's some scriptures I want you to remember here in a minute.
Salvation, regeneration, eternal life is in Christ. Can anybody think of any scriptures
where it says in Christ? Well, you're going to hang your
head now if you can't come up with something here. In Christ. Salvation is in Christ. There's a couple of chapters
that have it a dozen times. One chapter in particular. In
Christ. Anybody? Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1. In the first 13 verses of Ephesians
1, it says it 13 times. In Christ. Boy, if you want to
go somewhere and describe How God saves sinners, how he makes
us new, how he punishes our sin with the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and creates a new creature in Ephesians
chapter 1. What are you going to say, Terry? 521. He has made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made in the righteousness
of God in him. But in Christ, God chose, loved,
and determined to have a people. in Christ for his glory. And
Christ, we're talking about this new birth. I'm trying to put
it in simple terms. I'm beating around the bush a
little bit. Christ was sent down here to give birth to a people.
That's the reason Christ came. He came down here and for thirty-three
and a half years, he carried around a people in him. This is what it means. Let me
explain very simply in a way that you can remember, in a way
you can relate it to people. Christ came down here as a man,
and in him were these people. And what does that make you think
of? All the names, all of these people, these chosen people,
were represented in him. What does that make you think
of? The high priest, right, who carried those names on his breastplate? The high priest carried all the
names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the people on his
breastplate when he went into that Holy of Holies and made
that sacrifice. And Christ came down here and lived thirty-three
and a half years with those people in Him. He represented these
people, had all their names written in Him on His breastplate, on
that righteousness of His. And Christ lived the life that
God demanded of us and established a righteousness. And God finally,
after so many years, God finally said, this is a man I approve
of. This is the man that I approve
of. And everybody in Christ was approved
or accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1, 6, right? Accepted in the Beloved. Then
he went to that cross. In other words, Christ established
that righteousness and gave it to these people. Then he went
to that cross, and he not only had to establish this righteousness,
but he had to pay for our sins, didn't he? He had to pay for
our sins. So he went, that's the reason
he went to the cross. I bet you there's not one person out of
a thousand that knows why he had to go to the cross. To die
for our sins, why? Because God is just. We've already
said that. He will by no means clear the
guilty. Sins must be paid for. The soul
that sinneth, it must surely die. That's Ezekiel 18, 4. And it says in verse 20 of Ezekiel
18, that the soul that sinneth, we quote that all the time, don't
we? Everybody in here has tried to quote that at one time or
another. That's Ezekiel 18. The soul that sinneth must surely
die. So Christ went to that cross,
representing the people, representing Roberta's sword and various different
chosen people, and he died. And you died in Christ, right? You crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, you live. But it's
not you. It's Christ. You're accepted
and beloved. God sees you as Christ. Very
plain and simple term. God punished all the sin of all
his people in Christ on the cross. Here's another scripture. Why
did he have to die? Why was blood required? Because
the scripture says, without the shedding of blood, there's no
remission of sin. That's Hebrews 9.22. We quote
that all the time. We need to remember that. Hebrews
9.22. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. It's necessary that blood be
shed. And when Christ was hanging there
on that cross, he said that he saw the travail of his soul and
was satisfied. So when that blood, Ellen, when
that blood came out of his side and that water, what happens
when a woman gives birth? Blood and water, right? Out of
the womb, or out of his wounds, can children, babies, Sons of
God, he was giving birth to a people. Very simple, easy to understand
illustration, but that illustrates the gospel and why Christ went
to that cross. He said he saw the travail, and
you talk about particular redemption, that's one of the best verses
I can think of. He saw the travail of his soul and was satisfied. Satisfied. There's not a woman
in here who would miscarry or have a child die at birth. that
would be satisfied, be deeply grieved, wouldn't he? For he's satisfied. That means
he doesn't have any stillborn or miscarried, aborted children.
No. They're all born that he died
for. All of them. Every one of them.
Of God. Can you think of another scripture
which says we're in Christ? What things? Let me ask you this.
Another scripture where it says, of God he is made unto us all
these things. 30. 1 Corinthians 1, 30. Of God are
you in Christ, who is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. And Terry, I believe, brought
it up a while ago, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. God has made him to be
sin for us. And in this, Ephesians 1. Turn over there to Ephesians
chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. I want you to look at this
with your own eyes. Ephesians chapter 1. Have it indelibly
printed on your mind and your heart. Ephesians chapter 1. In Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ?
Verse 4. It's all according as he hath
chosen. God hath chosen us in Christ. Christ before the foundation
of the world. Unless they should accuse us
of being antinomian or whatever, right here it says, no, that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love. He's predestinated us under the
adoption of the children to himself. Well, what about faith? That'll
be the question. What about faith? Does faith
account for anything? What about faith? Well, what
about faith and repentance? Where's faith come from? Yeah, but I'm thinking of who
gives faith. We come up with Ephesians 2.8.
By grace you say through faith and that's what. Not of yourself. It's the gift of God. Ephesians
2.8. Man, we all remember that. With
everything that we've got. Ephesians 1.19. Exceeding greatness of his power
to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power.
But the Holy Spirit gives repentance. That's talking about the Holy
Spirit when it talks about the gift of faith. The Holy Spirit,
it's His office to give repentance and faith. It's the goodness
of God that leads a man to repentance, Romans 2. But the Holy Spirit
gives faith and repentance to all of God's people through the
what? What has God chosen to give to
save people? The preaching of the gospel,
1 Corinthians 1. God is the Father. This is very
easy to remember. God is the father. He planned
or he sired a people. Not that earthly father decided
to have children. God decided to have children.
He sired a people. He purposed, he planned it. He
planted the seed. The son is the womb, the mother
who gives birth to that seed upon that cross. The Holy Spirit
is the physician who brings forth from birth. It's the work of
the Triune God. Very easy to remember. Very easy. The Holy Spirit is the physician
who brings us out of darkness into marvelous light, as Scripture
said. The Holy Spirit is the one who
feeds us and nurses us with the milk of God's Word. The Holy
Spirit is the teacher who leads and guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit takes over after
Christ went back. You remember our study there
in John 16? The Holy Spirit after God Christ went back to the father. It's necessary. It's necessary
that the Holy Spirit come and do all these things for and the
Holy Spirit reveals the gospel. That is who God is what we are
and who Christ is and what he did upon that cross who cried
and what he did upon this earth and salvation and he convicts
us of sin. Righteousness. Judgment right. We just studied that sin righteousness. Judgment. Remember that? We just studied that Sunday morning.
Well, the Holy Spirit gives an interest. Everything that a man
has, spiritually speaking, every interest, every desire, every
ability, every will, every decision, faith is the gift of God. We need to know where to go to.
Ephesians 2, 8 would be the very easiest to remember. We all know
that verse of Scripture. Well, that's where it is, Ephesians
2. And faith is, listen to this, people think that God chose and
God saved people because they believe. This is a common misconception
of salvation. People think that God saved people
because they believe. If you believe, God will save
you. No, that's not the way this thing goes. That's not the way
God saves people. We talk about a new birth now,
aren't we? You must be born from above.
How is a little baby going to decide to have a parent? It can't
do it. It was all in the mind and the heart and the will and
the purpose and the plan and the provisions of the parent,
right? Even so, it's the same way with
God. Faith is the end result of what
God already started. A child is born and then finally
becomes aware of its surroundings, right? A child is born and it
has life. And then, in time, it becomes
aware of its surroundings, aware of its parents. It comes to know
its parents, and it's the same thing with God's people. They're
born of God and then kept and nurtured and taught, all thy
children should be taught of the Lord. All God's people should
be taught by God. If we were left to ourselves
like a little child, it would die, right? But a faithful, loving
parent raises that child up, feeds it, instructs it, and finally
that little child's faculties become strengthened and so forth,
and he becomes aware of things. And everyone that God gives birth
to, he teaches. John 6, 45. John 6, 45. They shall be all taught of God,
and everyone that has learned of the Father shall come unto
me, Christ said. Every one of them, they shall
all be taught of God. Every one of them shall be taught
of God. And that's, he quoted that from Isaiah 54. But John
6.45 is that scripture. The Holy Spirit teaches every
one of God's people, teaches them the gospel. The gospel. And just like a child is first
taught, really the first words that a child comes up with are
what? Dada. or according to which parent
gets to it first. You know, Mama says, say, Mama. But Dad says,
say, Dada. At any rate, the first words
that come out of that baby's mouth are its parent's name.
And the first words that come out of a born-again or born-from-above
child of God, God is God. God. Abba. Right? God. And God does, why does God
do all this? What is all this salvation all
about anyway? What's it all about? Where would you go in the scriptures
to describe, to explain what salvation was all about? Why
did God save people? Anybody? What? For his glory. But where would the scripture
be found? 1 Corinthians 1 31. I'm thinking of a better one
that contains it three times. Ephesians chapter one. It says
it three times in Ephesians chapter one. to the praise of the glory
of his grace, to the praise of the glory of his grace, to the
praise of his glory, Ephesians 1. If you want, like I said a
while ago, if you want to go somewhere to describe this gospel
or to explain to somebody what we believe, Ephesians 1 is where
you can go. Let me read that scripture there
that Ed quoted, too. As it is written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. It is saying the same thing.
But to the praise of the glory of his grace is the reason God
has made us accepted. Ephesians 1, 6. Ephesians 1,
6. To the praise of the glory of
his grace. And it says it in verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. It says it in verse 14. that
we should be under the praise of his glory, Ephesians 1. As a matter of fact, you can
go to the first chapter of nearly every epistle and explain, be
able to explain, provided you have a Bible. If you can't quote
it, you better have the scriptures with you. But Ephesians chapter
1 is where you go. But the reason God did this all,
the reason he had children in the first place, is for his glory. He doesn't save people. for their
sake. That's not what the scripture
says, does it, Terry? Scripture says very clearly, many times,
I didn't do this for your sake, but for my holy name's sake.
Now, let's face it. Everybody in here that has children,
why did you have children? Why did you have children? Because
you wanted them, right? You wanted them. For you. You
didn't have children for them. That's silly to even think of.
You had them for you. You wanted these children. And
let's face it now, the more they look like you, the more they
act like you, in some cases, the more you gloat and the more
proud you are when they look like you. Somebody comes up and
says, boy, he looks just like you. You're all proud. That's what this thing is all
about, to God. I mean, really, God is the only
one who's really and truly able to say this. and say it without
sin in it. According as it is written, like
Ed says, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 31, He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord. Let not the mighty man glory
in his strength, nor the wise man in his wisdom, and so forth.
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And God had a children. Why? For his glory. For his glory. Not so we'd be
happy. For his glory. But we are happy. We are happy in his glory. And
he has us. He saved them for his name's
sake. Ezekiel 36 is where that's located. Ezekiel 36, verse 22. He said, I do not this for your
sake, but for my holy name's sake. Ezekiel 36, 22. God hath predestinated And if
you wanted to go one step further with this thing of salvation,
you could say this, that God has predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of his Son. God wants a people just like
Christ. That's Romans 8, 29, right? Now, are you still there in Ephesians
1, or did we turn someplace else? Look at Ephesians 1. I'm going
to just read this and the whole chapter will come a little bit
more alive to you. You'll see some things you maybe
haven't seen before in Ephesians 1. It's all here. It's all right
there in Ephesians 1. Paul, verse 1, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints who are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace
from God. That's where peace and grace
come from, isn't it? From God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's both their words. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings. You must
be born from above. You need some spirit. You don't
need nothing. You don't need T-bomb sticks. You need some
spiritual blessings. And all these things, where are
these spiritual blessings found? In Christ. In Christ. In heavenly places in Christ.
And it's all according as he hath chosen. Where did it all
start? Where did salvation start? With God. His choice. Not our choice. When does a man
say when he chooses to do something? No, that's not what it says right
here, does it? Ephesians 1, 4. According as he hath chosen us.
In Christ. When did he do it? before the
foundation of the world. Why did he do it? That we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. That is, we had
to be made holy. We had to be made righteous. And he did this
by predestinating, predestinating, predetermining us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ. That is, Christ went to that
cross and gave birth to a people for God. And it was all, why
did this all take place? God just simply decided to do
so. according to the good pleasure of his own will, not our will,
not of blood, not of the will of flesh, the will of man, but
of God, the will of God, according to the good pleasure of his own
will. Why? What's salvation all about? To
the praise of the glory of his grace. He said over there in
Colossians 4, 5, I believe it is, Let your speech
always be seasoned with grace that you may be able to answer
every man. Seasoned with grace. Let your
speech be seasoned with what? What is our byword? What do we
talk about? Salvation by grace. Ephesians
2.8. Grace. Let your speech be seasoned
with grace. And that's what this whole thing
is all about. To the praise of the glory of God's grace. And
it ain't no arbitrary or it isn't any general Offer of love anybody
wants that not in the context of these verses. That's not what
it's all about is grace. No, it's a it's a unmerited gift
of God according to the good pleasure of his own right. Anybody
here can go down through here. God gives you the gives you the
the opening and take this birth and take this past description
and go down through there and logically expositionally explain
the gospel. Yes, you can, right here, Ephesians
1. We're doing it right now, Arlen. It's all according to
the pleasure of his own will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, and it's all how he made us accepted in Christ, in
the Beloved. In who? We have redemption. How? Through his blood, through his
blood, the forgiveness of sin. forgive how how to forgive him
to his blood that chain of blood is no remission of sin. According
to the riches of his grace where in that is in Christ in this
work of Christ he has abounded toward us in all wisdom. This
gospel is what the wisdom of God and the power of God. He's
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence And he's made known
unto us the mystery of his will. How did he do that? How does
God make known this mystery to anybody? Where do you find that? According to the Spirit. The
Spirit through the gospel. Where's that chapter? It talks
about the natural man who receives not the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2. Right. It's all through 1 Corinthians
2. Talking about how the natural man can't receive the things
of God, but the Spirit must show them to him. The Spirit. He's made known unto us the mystery
of his will. What do you mean he's made known unto you the
mystery of his will? Well, you got a special revelation? Yeah.
Didn't come up with it myself. The Holy Spirit revealed it to
me. Go to 1 Corinthians 2. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will, which he hath purposed in himself. There's
the gospel. There's the plan. There's the
eternal salvation. Purpose. Purpose. God has purposed this all in
himself. He planned this whole thing from
the very beginning. That's what we believe, don't
we? Where does that go back to? Jonah 2.9. Salvation is of the
Lord. It started with him. It continued
with him. It finished with him. He's the
author and finisher of our faith. Purpose. Purpose. There's a good
word. In himself. It's in himself.
In himself. Verse 10. that in a dispensation,
when this thing's all wrapped up, finally, in the fullness
of time, he's going to gather together in one all things in
Christ. And what are we going to do?
What's heaven all about? Praising Christ. Everybody's going to be seated
around, standing around the throne, praising Christ. It's all in
him. Things that are in heaven, which
are on earth, even in Christ. And he goes right back here.
In whom? We have obtained an inheritance. An inheritance being
predestinated. There it is again, according
to this purpose of God. The purpose of God, who works
all things after the counsel of man's will. No, that's not
what it says. It's all right here, according
to his own will, after the counsel of his own will. I tell you, if you can sit somebody
down in front of you, And have them calmly and quietly and carefully
consider this passage of scripture with you, prayerfully, if they're
sincerely seeking the truth. And there's no way they can go
away from here believing anything else, is there? There's no way,
there's no way to get anything out of this other than sovereign
grace, salvation, totally in the hands of God. according to
the counsel of his own will, that we should, and here's the
purpose again, that we should be the praise of his glory. Who
first trusted in Christ? Who trusted in Christ? Where
did faith come from? Ephesians, what? Ephesians what? Come on,
where does faith come from? Who gave it? Ephesians 2.8. 2.8.
Faith is a gift of God. First trusted in Christ because
God gave us the faith to do so. They can argue that, you know.
There it is, you trust and cry. Well, face the gift of God. In
whom? In Christ, you also trusted after
you heard the word of truth. And this will answer these primitive
Baptists who say you don't have to hear the gospel. Right? Right,
Henry? They say you don't have to hear
the gospel. God elects you, you're saved. No, you've got to hear
the gospel. That's according to Ephesians 1, 13. In whom you
also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. Got to hear the gospel. In whom? The gospel of your salvation.
What is the gospel? The gospel is in whom? The gospel
is a person. In whom? Also, after you believe,
you are sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance, the redemption of the purchased possession,
and finally, and once again, he says it, to the praise of
his glory. I know I gave you a lot of things,
and I might have burdened you and wearied you and so forth,
but Peter said it there in 1 Peter 3, 15. Sanctify the Lord God
in our hearts and be ready always to give an answer. The reason
for the hope is within you, meekness and fear. We need to be able,
ready, and willing to tell people what we believe and to be able
to go to scriptures and tell them. If we become all tongue-tied
and can't tell them anything, we ought to be able to give them
a scripture verse here and there. It's not necessary that you remember
all these things I said, these points, but I just did that,
came up with it because I thought it would be helpful. Very simple
and easy to remember. God is God. Man is dead. The person and work of Christ
alone is what saves us. And the Holy Spirit has to give
new birth, repentance, and faith. And then God did it all for His
glory. He does it all for His glory.
And a few scriptures to go with it. I gave you a lot to remember,
but I hope you'll consider these things and hope you wrote some
of them down. And don't blame me if you have possible things
to say. I did it for me, too. I need
to be refreshed in these things, and I did it for me. I sat out,
to be honest with you, I sat down, and he said, you've got
all these things written down here. I didn't do that when I
sat down to write these things down. When I sat down, I sat
over with a blank piece of paper and said, now what do we believe?
I said, this is what we believe, God is God. Where is that found?
And searched my brain and racked my mind to find that scripture,
and tried to write these things down, and then looked them up.
We need to know. We need to know. We need to have
these scriptures on our minds and our hearts so we won't be
ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. A workman that
needeth not be ashamed. Right? You know how it feels,
don't you? When you can't answer somebody,
you feel ashamed. Quit being ashamed. Get in the
Bible. Get some of this scripture and
memorize it. Little children can memorize
verses of scripture, right? Why, sure they can. Sure, that
can. And I exhort you. I exhort you to do so. Just memorize
it. Just a handful, just a handful
is fair. That's not too much to ask of you. Just a handful,
if you're interested. If you want to be able to give
every man a reason for the hope and not be ashamed, not go away
hanging your head and stay awake at night saying, oh, I wish I'd
have known what to say to him. It's a terrible feeling, isn't
it? I know we've all been there. I've been there. And sometimes
God shuts these doors, and He won't allow us, you know, to
whatever, maybe casting our pearls before swine. But nevertheless,
Barbara, most of the time we have ourselves to blame, don't
we? Yes, we do. Our ignorance. Don't let it be
said of this people. We need to be well taught, well
instructed. I think you're well fed here. A steady diet of the
Scriptures. Verse by verse. We're going through
book by book, verse by verse. We need to know some of these
things, starting right here. And let's start. Is that good
advice? Yes, it is. I say so myself. Good advice. And I advise myself,
as well as you, to memorize these things. Well, stand with me and
I'll dismiss this and pray.