I always love to hear them sing. Not only do they have excellent
talent, but every song they choose is honoring to God, and I'm very
grateful for that. Well, I want you to go to a very
familiar passage this evening, back to Ephesians. And we'll
go to Ephesians chapter one. Our subject is a hymn of praise,
because that's what this is from verses three through 14. It's
a hymn of praise unto our God. This is a magnificent eulogy. unto the Lord a glorious, outstanding
hymn of praise. It's a lengthy one statement. It is one sentence that is designed
to do this. First of all, to magnify God. And then to bless his people
and to enable us to worship. You see, the first reason for
doing anything is to glorify God, and the reason we come together
is to be worshipers of God. Our brother asked God to enable
us to worship. That's what this service is all
about. We certainly want instruction,
we want edification in the things of God, but that which is of
utmost, utmost importance is that God be magnified. If the Lord isn't worshiped,
there just isn't any reason to meet. Every Lord's Day, multitudes
of church doors are opened and they say it's a worship, worship
service. But are they worship services? Is ours a worship service? Did
we worship this morning? Are we worshiping this evening? Everything, I assure you, everything
about the service, as far as I can do, is designed in order
that we exalt God. I'm very deliberate and particular
in the songs that I pick out. in the words, the lyrics that
I write for you to sing. I write our own Sunday school
lessons and I write those with the design being as we study
the word of God to honor the God of all grace. When we meet
together in a worship service such as this, all the songs,
the scripture reading, the prayers, they are all to ask God to enable
us to worship him. James mentioned in his prayer
that the Lord Jesus said that God seeks worshippers, true worshippers. There are worshippers and then
there are true worshippers. Oh, that God would number us,
that we would be numbered among the true worshippers. Not just
to be religious, there are lots of religious people. I don't
want to just be religious, I want to be a true worshipper. I want
to fall at the feet of the Lord of glory and honor Him and magnify
Him, much like that leper this morning we talked about from
Luke chapter 17. Ten lepers and all ten of them
were healed. Nine of them left and did not
come back to the Lord Jesus, but one did and he fell at His
feet. He worshiped Him. He honored
Him as the Son of God, as the Lord of glory. That's what we
want to do tonight. And as we look into this very
wonderful passage of scripture that we all know so well, in
Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14, this is indeed a hymn of
praise unto God. And it begins this way, this
hymn of praise, and of course, here the apostle in the first
two verses, He introduces himself, and he is the writer, he is the
inspired writer, and he says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God. In other words, he said, I didn't
volunteer for this position. This is a position which I'm
called. God gave me this commission to
be his messenger, and he's writing to the saints of God, which are
at Ephesus. All of the people of God are
saints. I know if you keep up with some other denominations,
November the 1st is called by the Roman Catholic Church, All
Saints Day. November the 1st. And that is
to honor all of those who immediately left this world and went to heaven,
having been declared to be saints of God
by men. And they went right on to heaven,
and that's a day that they honor saints, All Saints' Day. It doesn't
mean like it does in the Bible, remembering all of the people
of God, no, a select few, that they have designated to be saints
because they have qualified, according to the Roman Catholic
doctrine, to arrive at what they call sainthood. And then, not
to leave anybody out, then the next day, November the 2nd, yesterday,
was All Souls Day. And that's to remember all the
souls of those who've gone to purgatory. And they're paying
for their sins, and they won't get out until their sins are
paid for. And of course, if you wanna help
them, you pray for them and you give. You give of your gifts
to the RCC church, and then the more that you give, the quicker
they'll get out and they'll be able to join the others in heaven
above. But as you look into the Word
of God, and oh that we would get into the scriptures, You
see the fallacy of these things. You see how wrong that is, how
awful it is to say that only a very few are the saints of
God. When you read very clearly here, to the saints which are
at Ephesus. He's not writing to the world. He's not writing to unbelievers. He's writing to all the people
of God whom the Spirit of God says they're saints in Christ
Jesus. We've been set apart by the grace
of God. We've been sanctified by the
Lord Jesus Christ. We've been justified by his blood
and we are accepted in the beloved. We're all saints of God. Those
who are believers, every child of God is a saint. It isn't that
you will ultimately arrive at sainthood. You are a saint now
in Christ Jesus. You're sanctified by God. through
the blood of the Lord Jesus. And so he writes to these saints
of God who were at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus,
to those who believe. Who are the saints of God? What
do we know about the saints of God? They are those who believe
the word of God, who believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus.
And then he commences to say to these saints of God, to us
tonight, grace, grace be to you and peace from God our Father
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. He begins by saying grace to
you. This is unmerited favor from
God. Grace be to you and peace. There are a number of times that
grace and peace are used in the New Testament. And if I counted
correctly, about 20 or 21 times, you'll see grace and peace mentioned
together. But it's never peace and grace,
it's always grace and peace. That's always the order. And
the reason is because there is no peace with God apart from
God's grace. And there is no true peace within
the heart that peace has been made by the Lord Jesus Christ
through the blood of his cross, except by the grace of God revealing
to us that peace has been established. And so this is always the order.
There are no exceptions to this grace and peace. Now you can
imagine the saints of God who were at Ephesus. They're living
in an era of idolatry, of wickedness. The pagan goddess Diana, she
had a huge temple there in Ephesus. There's a lot of other ungodliness
that's going on, a lot of idolatry. The saints of God are being persecuted
because of their belief in the grace of God in Christ Jesus. And here they receive a letter
from the apostle Paul who briefly introduces himself and then says
to whom he's writing and then the very first word that he speaks
to them is grace. That must have warmed their hearts.
As the pastor got up that Lord's Day morning and he said, I have
a letter to read to you from the Apostle Paul. Remember, you
elders of the church, how he called for us and he met with
us and admonished us to stand fast in the grace of God. Having
said himself that he remained faithful to the call that God
gave him to minister the gospel. He said, I didn't fail. I preached
unto you all the counsel of God. And this is the apostle Paul
and he writes to us. And here's what he has to say
to us, brethren, and I can just see them all sitting on the edge
of their pews or their chairs or wherever it was they're sitting.
And the reader, the spokesman says, and perhaps it's John,
we're not sure who read this to them originally, but he says,
here's what Paul says, grace to you and peace. And he says, this grace and this
peace comes to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying, I bring you warm
greetings as a messenger sent from God. And God has me to tell
you today, grace to you. and peace from the Lord Jesus. And then all of a sudden, he
breaks out in this hymn of praise, this eulogy to God. The word
in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The word blessed is eulogized
to be God. Now we cannot lift up our hands
and bless God as the high priest, as Aaron did in Numbers chapter
six when he pronounced the blessing upon the children of Israel.
and he blessed them in the name of the Lord. We can't bless God
like that. We can't lift up our hands and
give God anything that he doesn't already have. And we certainly
cannot pronounce blessings upon God. The word here is eulogized
be God. It's much the same idea, if you
want to put it in a secular way, as when we have a funeral service
and you have a member of the family typically would come up
and they have a eulogy to their dad, to their mother, to their
brother, to their sister, a dear friend, whoever it might be,
whoever the deceased is, and they have a eulogy. And what
is it? They say good things about them. They say good things about
the one who's deceased. Well, here's what the Apostle
Paul, this is how he begins the letter. I wanna say good things
about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And listen,
whenever we gather together, it is to say good things about
God. It is to exalt Him. It is not
to say good things about us because there are no good things about
us, only the good things that God our Father does for us through
the Lord Jesus Christ. the good blessings that he gives
us, but the eulogy, all the praise, all the glory, all the exaltation
must go to God. He says, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, this is the reason I
write this letter, to eulogize God to you, to have you think
the highest possible thoughts of God that you could possibly
think. for you to set your heart of heart upon the God of glory,
the God of grace, the God of mercy, the God who gives us peace
through that great peacemaker who made peace with God on our
behalf. And he did it by the blood of
his cross. Blessed be God. and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. You know, here's the apostle
leading us in blessing God for the things that he's done for
us, as he says in the fourth verse, before the foundation
of the world. Do you understand, and I'm sure
that most of you, maybe all of you do, that all of the good
blessings that God gives to us in this life are the spiritual
blessings that are ours in Christ Jesus. and these spiritual blessings
that are ours are due to what God did, look at verse four,
before the foundation of the world, before we ever lived,
before we ever existed except in the mind and the purpose and
the heart of God. Every mercy we partake of, Every
good thing that comes to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. And make
no mistake about it, nothing but good comes to us through
Christ Jesus our Lord, and there is no goodness or mercy or blessings
anywhere else. They all come to us in Him. And
they all came to us, they were ordained for us in heavenly places
before the foundation of the world. So he is leading the Ephesian
believers and he is leading us in a hymn of praise to this God
who blessed us with every spiritual blessing he could ever give us
and he did it before he ever made the world. In fact, he made
the world in order that we would live here and then begin to be
the recipients of all of these blessings that he ordained for
us. As one writer said, and he said
it quite well, I believe, this earth is like the stage upon
which God is working out the great drama of redemption. And in this drama of redemption,
there is but one leading character, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is the one God appointed
to be our savior and all of the good things that God would give
to his people, he gives to his people in his son, Christ the
Lord. Outside of Christ, God has no
love, no grace, no mercy, no gifts for any of Adam's race. They're all in Christ. So that
if you have Christ, you got everything God can give you. You have Him. And in Him you have all good
things. If you don't have Him, you're the poorest of the poor.
You have nothing. And you see, God, in giving us
to Christ Jesus before the world began, He put us in union with
His Son. We're one with Him. We're one. We've never been separated from
Christ Jesus, not for a moment. He says here in verse 4, according
as He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him. That we should
be holy? Yes. That we should be without
blame? Oh yes, in him, in Christ Jesus. We're united to him, we're one
with him. We've always been united to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the apostle blessing
God. If you would, fast forward to
that day when time shall be no more. Look at Revelation chapter
five. John has taken up into heaven,
and he is enabled by the Spirit of God to see the last, that
eternal day without a night. And he has this to say about
what he observes and what he hears. Revelation chapter five. Remember what we've just read.
Here is the Apostle Paul and he's blessing God. He's eulogizing
God. Guess what we'll be doing in
everlasting glory? The same thing. we'll be singing
the same hymn. It won't be anything different.
Look at Revelation 5 and verse 13. And every creature which
is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such
as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I say, blessing. That's how you start, blessing. What are they all singing? They're
singing blessing, blessing to God. Blessing and honor and glory
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the
Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen. So be it. And the four and twenty
elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever."
Here's what heaven is all about. Worship. Blessing God. Well, what's in it for me? The
privilege to bless God and worship God in a sinless state. Without any distraction. Without
your mind wandering. without any thought of worry,
or what's going to happen in the morning or tomorrow, or what's
going to unfold in your life. All of those things, all of your
fears and all of your tears will then be in the past. And all
that will occupy your mind and your heart and your soul is the
glory of God in Christ Jesus, that's all. Won't that be wonderful? Nothing else will invade your
mind. Heaven is a place of worship.
It's a place where people bless God forever and ever. And I'm fully persuaded that
most people who talk about going to heaven would not be comfortable
if God were to allow them to enter in. Because they would
be very uncomfortable there. Where the only song of the saints
is worthy is the lamb that was slain, who has redeemed us to
God by his blood. And where every voice is blessing
the name of God. That's what heaven is all about.
Would you be happy in that environment? I sure would be, wouldn't you? Oh, I'd be happy. I'd be so happy. Because you see, the nearest
I ever am to God, I do believe, is when I'm with the saints of
God. And I'm hearing about the greatness of my God. And I'm
hearing about the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And for a few moments, my soul
is kind of caught up in the wonders of the grace of God. And all
of the things around me suddenly began to seem not so important. And then after the service is
over, then I kind of come back down to earth. And I think to
myself, oh, how will it be when my mind and my soul and my heart
are engaged in the worship of my God? Forever. Forever. And I must admit, I cannot imagine
how glorious that's going to be. But I sure do look forward
to it. I'm looking forward to finding
out, Alan, what that's going to be like. To just bless the
name of God. No wonder, here's another hymn
of praise. Look at Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. Here's another
hymn of praise. As I read the word of God, there
are two things that just, that kind of swallow me up. And I
get lost in these two subjects. I get lost in my own unworthiness
and nothingness. That's an endless subject. My
own unworthiness and my nothingness. And then I get lost in the greatness
and the grandeur and the wonders of my God. The apostle Paul speaks
to that here in Romans chapter 11. He has, he's talked about how
that God has blinded the Jews in order to send the gospel to
the Gentiles. That's way over my head. He's talked about the sovereignty
of God's grace. God gives to some, to others
he doesn't give. I'm lost in wonder and amazement. And he says this in verse 33. Oh, Romans 11, 33. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Aren't you lost in the
depths of his wisdom and his knowledge? Wisdom that found
the way whereby he could restore unto himself those whom he had
banished from his presence due to sin. He found the way to reconcile. us to himself in a way that didn't
compromise his justice, didn't compromise his law. The standard is still upheld. He sent a substitute to live
and die in our stead. His own son, he sacrificed him
for us. Oh, the wisdom of God and the
knowledge of He says, how unsearchable are
his judgments. Judgment, that's his counsels.
That's the decrees of God. Or if you please, the decisions
of God. How unsearchable are the decisions
of God? And listen, God is making no
new decisions. God doesn't watch to see what
we do and then react. Oh no. No, God acts and we react. But he acted, he ordained all
things before the world began. No wonder he says his ways are
past finding out. It just, his thoughts are too
deep for us. It's just way over our heads. For verse 34, for who hath known
the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor?
This is the God who answers to nobody. We all answer to a lot of people. We answer to our spouses to a
degree, you wives answer to your husbands, because he's the head
of the house. But each of us answer to our spouses, children
answer to their parents, you answer to your boss, you answer
to the government, to the local government, to the state government,
to the federal government. There are a lot of people you
answer to and in all things you answer to God. But he answers
to nobody and he consults with nobody. All of his decrees are
everlasting decrees and nobody has known his mind and nobody
is his counselor. He needs no advice. He knows all things. He knows
the wisest thing to do in every situation. He knows what's wise
and best for you. but you who are the people of
God. You can't advise Him or tell Him what to do with your
life. You bow rejoicing in His will
for you. You see, when we say we believe
in divine providence, that God is directing all things to the
end that He's ordained, and that God is sovereign in all things,
it isn't that we say, well, okay, He's sovereign in all things.
Jim, you backed me in a corner. You've showed me from the scripture
that God is sovereign. And so, oh shucks, I guess I'll
just have to accept that. Oh no, that's not the way it
is. We rejoice that he governs in all things. We rejoice that
nobody is to be consulted in the decisions of God. We rejoice
that he's God overall, blessed forever. I'm thankful my God
cannot be moved around. He can't be changed. He's changeless. He said, I'm the Lord. I change
not. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. It's the only reason, because
I don't change. I'm God. He's faithful yesterday, today,
and forever. And when we pray to Him, and
I'm working on a couple of messages. If God is sovereign, why preach?
If God is sovereign, why pray? Don't think that your prayers
change God in any way. They do not. Well then, why pray
tell me, should I pray? Because God tells you to, that's
why. And that ought to settle the
issue there. He says, pray without ceasing, but Lord, my prayers
don't move you around. Aren't you glad your prayers
don't move God around? Why, he'd be over here, and then
you pray again, he'd be over here. Somebody says prayer changes
things. Well, prayer changes us. And God uses prayer, there's
no question about that. But you can't manipulate God. And amongst all the accusations
I lay at the feet of false religion today, it is this, that they
try to manipulate God. They say they can manipulate
God. You can't do that. You cannot force God's hand. Now watch this in verse 36. For of him and through him and
to him are all things. And a lot of people would like
to read that for of Him and through Him and to Him are the good things. All the pleasant things. They're
of God. It's not what it says. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things, whether they're pleasant for you or not.
When Job lost all that he had and 10 children were buried,
he went to the cemetery and buried not one son, but all of his sons
and daughters. He didn't say the Lord gave and
the devil took them all away. That's what false religion would
have you to believe because they don't honor the God of the Bible.
But Job knew God. He knew the God of the Bible.
He said the Lord gave and the Lord had taken away. You know
what he did? What'd he say then? He utilized
God. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of the Lord. For of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever. This is the
God of the Bible. Now go back to Ephesians one
real quick. And he starts off, and he mentioned
several spiritual blessings. And he begins with verse four,
he's chosen us. And in verse five, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself. And
listen, all of the rest of the blessings, they flow out of those
two. Out of God's election and of
God's predestination. Now most people, they're not
interested in those two. I wanna get to some of the other
ones. But there are no others. apart
from these. There aren't any more blessings
except these which are at the fountainhead. And that is the
eternal purpose of God. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's a choice unto salvation.
And he predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ himself. In Romans chapter eight, it talks
about God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of Christ. Look at verse 11. In whom we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. And somebody says, I don't believe
in predestination. Well, forget the Bible then. You surely got to believe something
about predestination because the word predestinate and predestinated,
it's in the Bible. Predestination is to mark out
ahead of time, before time. God chose a people unto salvation
and he marked out the path for those people. which is an eternal
inheritance and conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that
all of these he chose be in his family. That's God's predestination. And we've said it before, we
all believe in predestination pertaining to ourselves. You
got some things you intend to do tomorrow, predestination.
Yeah, I try. I have a funeral service in the
morning, so here's what my plan is. This is my destination tomorrow,
as far as I can determine it. And I'm doing it ahead of time,
so it's pretty. I plan on going to South Point,
exiting there on Solida Road, going over to the funeral home,
visiting with the family, go to the cemetery, and bring a
message. You plan to come here tonight.
It's foolish to say, well, I don't believe in predestination. Everybody
does. Well, here's what God did before
the world began. He ordained everything that'll
ever come to pass. Preacher, are you an absolute
predestinarian? Why, certainly. There is no other
kind if you believe the Word of God. That's the reason I say
to those who are having difficulties, who are having trials, it's of
God. It's of God. In the book of Isaiah
chapter 52 and verse 7, it talks about the beauty of the feet
of those who come forth preaching the gospel of peace. who say
to Zion, they say something to Zion. And you've got to understand
in the background, these are people of God who first their
nation was held in captivity by the Egyptians and then it
was the Assyrians. These are people who had rough
times. These are people who are having
great afflictions. And he says to them, the only
thing that will really cheer the heart of a child of God who's
in a midst of affliction and triumph, the preachers of God
say to Zion, thy God reigneth. That's the message of God's preaching.
By God reigneth. I know it's tough. I know you're
having difficulties. I know you're gonna have surgery.
I know you've lost a loved one. I know you're sick. I know you're
going through all of these things, but in every situation, remember,
by God reigneth. Oh, thank you, preacher, for
reminding me of that. That's what Isaiah says in Isaiah
52, verse seven. And then he goes on to set forth
these spiritual blessings. He says in verse six, he's made
us accepted in the beloved. The word accepted is grace. He's
graced us in the beloved. All the grace of God's in Christ
Jesus, he's the beloved one of God. He's made us accepted. We're always accepted. God accepts
us. You listen to religion today,
they'll say, will you accept God? Will you accept Jesus? You might want to be concerned
about this. Will he accept me? Well, he has
already accepted his people in Christ. And then in verse seven,
he talks about redemption, in whom we have redemption through
his blood. He's died for us. He bought us. He paid our indebtedness. He bought us from the slave market
of sin. And therefore we have the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. Forgiveness through
the blood. And then he says in verse nine,
he's made known unto us the mystery of his will, the mystery of his
redemptive will. And the mystery of his will that
all of his people are gonna be gathered in one, end of verse
10, even in Christ, even in him. Then in verse 11 he says, we
have an inheritance. Peter says, incorruptible and
undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in the heavens for you
who are kept by the power of God. See, this salvation is everlasting. He keeps us. See, the Arminian
is very, most of the Arminians are very inconsistent because
they'll say, oh, you'll never lose your salvation. Why not?
God's gonna keep you saved. But you had to get it all going. No, that's not the way it is.
The reason salvation is everlasting, the reason you'll never lose
it is because it's God's salvation. He ordained this salvation. He ordained the recipients of
this salvation. So it extends from way back yonder
to way out yonder. As far as your mind will take
you, that's how far it extends and way beyond that, it's endless
this way and it's endless back that way too. That's the reason
those in Christ are secure. And then in verse 13, he talks
about those who trust him. Faith is a gift of God. It says
that in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And then he says, you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. How do you know you'll arrive
at the final inheritance, the final destination? Because I
already got the down payment. The down payment is he's given
me his spirit. And that is God's pledge. You'll get it all. You're safe
forever. And of this Holy Spirit, he says
in verse 14, which is the earnest of our inheritance unto the redemption
of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
That is until that day when this body's gonna be redeemed. When
it's gonna be raised. and will be with the Lord Jesus
and be like him, body and soul. Paul is not being argumentative
here. He just breaks out in a hymn
of praise. You say, Jim, you trying to convince
me of anything tonight? No. I'm just telling you what
God said. He's the one who has to do the
convincing And if he convinces us of his glory and the glory
of Christ Jesus, I promise you this, we'll never get over it. And we will never settle for
anything less coming to us from the pulpit except that message
that glorifies our great God. May the Lord Bless you and may
His grace and peace be upon all of His people.