M number 63. Take the name of Jesus with you
Child of sorrow and of hope It will joy and comfort give you
Take it then where'er you go Precious name, oh how sweet ?
Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Precious name, oh how sweet
? Hope of earth and joy of heaven ? Take the name of Jesus with
her ? As a shield from every snare If temptations round you
gather Bring that holy name in prayer Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven
O the precious name of Jesus How it thrills our souls with
joy When his loving arms receive
us And his songs our tongues employ Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven Precious name, oh how
sweet Hope of earth and joy of heaven
At the name of Jesus bowing Falling prostrate at his feet King of
kings in heaven will crown him When our journey is complete
Be seated while saying hymn number 110. One ten. Alas, and did my Saviour plead,
And did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred pit
For such a worm as I? Was it for crimes that I have
done He groaned upon the tree? Amazing pity, grace undone, and
love beyond degree. Well might the sun in darkness
hide, and shut his glories in. In Christ the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature sinned. The drops of green canary paint
the day, Here, Lord, I give myself away,
Tis all that I can do. If you have your Bibles with
you this evening, if you would, open with me to the book of Luke,
chapter 5. Luke, chapter 5. Luke, chapter 5, we'll begin
reading in verse 12. Read down through verse 32. And it came to pass, when he
was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing
Jesus, fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if
thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand,
and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately
the leprosy departed from him, And he charged him to tell no
man, but go and show thyself to the priest and offer for thy
cleansing according as Moses commanded for a testimony unto
them. But so much the more went their
fame abroad of him. And great multitudes came together
to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. And he
withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed. And it came to pass
on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and
doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every
town of Galilee, and Judea, and Jerusalem, and the power of the
Lord was present to heal them. And behold, men brought in a
bed, a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means
to bring him in and to lay him before him. And when they could
not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude,
they went upon the housetop and led him down through the tiling
with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw
their faith, he said unto them, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who
is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering,
said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts, whether it is
easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and
walk? But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power upon
earth to forgive sins, he said unto the sick of the palsy, I
say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine
house. And immediately he rose up before
them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed, and
they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, we
have seen strange things today. And after these things, he went
forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt
of custom, And he said unto him, follow me. And he left all, rose
up, and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast
in his own house. And there was a great company
of publicans and of others that sat down with him. But their
scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying,
why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus
answering said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. Lord God Almighty, Abba Father,
we come into your presence once more. Lord, we thank you for your word.
We thank you for this day. We thank you for mercy, for grace, for your love, Lord, that you've
shown us. Thank you for your righteousness and your holiness. Lord, we thank you that you chose
the people to show mercy to. A number that no man can number.
Lord, we're so thankful you came to Save sinful man. Thank you for revealing to us
what we are and who you are. Lord, we thank you for all things
that you provide us. Thank you for this building that
we are gathered in. Thank you for the brethren that are gathered
here tonight. Lord, we ask that you would meet
with us once again. Send spirit to be among us. Bless
your word to our hearts if it would please you, Lord. Be with
Brother Obi again as he prepares to stand here and proclaim thy
gospel. Give us understanding. Let us focus on you for a little
while, Lord, if it would please you. Lord, we ask for mercy and grace for those who
are unable to be here, those who are weak and weary, and their
loved ones who are sitting with them, Lord, that you would enable
them and strengthen them. Lord, that you would bless their
hearts too. We pray for the lost and our lost loved ones. Lord, we pray thy word go forth as you call it to do. I ask that you'd cause us to do
thy will, Lord, for Christ's sake. Amen. In our course books, we'll sing,
I believe it's on page 31. 31, oh how merciful. 31 in the course book. When I was lost in sin and shame
How Thou let me take the blame Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me When I could look down deep within
And see the sinfulness of sin Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me Oh, how merciful Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. ? A sinner lost and so help him
? ? Yet thou say'st I must repent ? ? Blessed Lord how merciful
thou was to me ? ? I wonder why should I rebel ? And with a soul
deserving hell Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou was to me Oh,
how merciful How merciful Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. I'm not ashamed of all thy grace
When thou came and took my place Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me And when this world ceases to be Eternal blood to
speak for me Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou art to be Oh, how
merciful How merciful, blessed Lord, how
merciful thou art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
art to me. Brother Irby's back with us again
this evening. You can come on whenever you're ready. Ready being a very relative term,
right? Good evening. It's good to see
you all again. We've enjoyed our day. And as so often is the case, not
enough time to visit. But it was a pseudo relaxing
afternoon for me. I was able to get a nap, which
will help on the drive home tonight. If you would, open with me to
Ephesians chapter one. There are times in our lives,
these lives being so up and down and just overall chaotic, that I was thinking of food. Food's such a comfort a lot of
times. Sometimes you go in and somebody's
spent a lot of time and they've mixed up something that's really
good and it's savory, but it takes so long for it to cook
and it's a hard meal, but you really enjoy it. Then there are
other days you walk in and it's something that you have all the
time. It's just there. meatloaf, red beans and rice,
just something that's comfortable. You know it well. Nevertheless,
it's enjoyable to you. And with this life and its ups
and downs and ins and outs, a lot of times we just want a word
of comfort. We get so much news, it changes
from one moment to the next. Everything's going along well,
and then tragedy has struck, either your family or someone
you know. And we just long for a word of comfort. And that's
what I want us to have tonight. Ephesians 1 is a It's a beautiful
passage. It's a very familiar passage. We've heard it, we've read from
it, we've had it preached so often. I hope the Lord will once again
just comfort us with his word. Let's read the chapter together
and while we read Ask the Lord to reveal to you
what he has done. Everything in here God has accomplished,
what he's done for his people, the people he chose, the people
he redeemed, the people he sealed. Verse 1, Paul an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are in earth, even in him. 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, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty
power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. Lord willing, we're going to
stay right here tonight, and we're just going to look at these
verses and see what great things the Lord has done for us. Verse
1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to
the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. First thing that captured my
attention here was the phrase, the will of God. What comfort,
what assurance can be found in just those four little words,
the will of God? In those words is the sovereignty
of our Lord God. Nebuchadnezzar said, he, God
Almighty, doeth according to his will. God is the only one
with the ability, with the power to do his will. If God wills it, whatever he
wills shall be done. This is a word of certainty. It's a word of comfort. The next thing that caught my
attention was God's particular people. This letter, written
by Paul, is addressed not to everyone. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are
at Ephesus, every promise, Every blessing, every curse, every
word in God's word is written to someone. Have you ever tried reading a
letter that wasn't written to you? I have a stack at home of
letters, some of which were from my grandmother. And I know, I
knew my grandmother, I knew the lady she was writing to. But
as I read those letters, there are things in those letters I
don't understand. She references people I don't
know, events that I was never told about. I can't fully understand
the letter because it's not addressed to me. This particular letter was written
to the saints which are at Ephesus. Had Paul stopped writing right
there, this letter would be meaningless to me. I'm not at Ephesus. But thank God he didn't stop
there. To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful. Oh, thank God he didn't stop
there. There's nothing faithful in this. And to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. None of us can claim to be faithful
apart from Christ. He is faithful. We aren't. We
try to be faithful. We try to put on a good show
at any rate to one another. but to satisfy the holy God's
standard of faithfulness. We can't do it. Not a soul born
of Adam can meet that standard. Thanks be to God for our Lord
Jesus Christ, who joined himself to us. He is faithful. And to
the saints at Ephesus and not at Ephesus, those who are in
him, are faithful because he is faithful. Verse 2, Paul continues
his salutation by revealing his prayer for the saints, which
is, by God's grace, our prayer for one another. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace, what blessings. Grace to be looked on by the
holy God favorably. Oh, what a blessing. Peace, peace
which in our natural flesh we disdain to our own destruction. But in Christ, because of his
obtaining our peace, Paul's prayer for grace is answered. Grace
be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. His salutation being ended, Paul
jumps straight away to the heart of the gospel, substitution. Verse three, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord, God the Son,
is the eternal God, who walked this earth as a man. As a man,
he blessed God perfectly with holy blessing, and as a man,
he cried out upon the cross, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Don't dare ask a man to explain
the Holy Trinity. God in three persons inhabiting
a body. Don't ask how God the Son is
recorded as increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with
God and man. How can it be? The Lord Jesus
Christ As a child, he being God, increased in wisdom and stature
and in favor with God. I can't explain it, but I can
by God's grace sing the praises of our God, who is a just God
and a Savior. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, What has the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ done? Who hath, it's done, it's finished,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Why has he blessed us? Why has
he caused us to prosper in spiritual blessings? Verse four. According
as He hath chosen us, why are we blessed? We are chosen in
Him, in our Lord Jesus Christ. When did He choose us? Did He
choose us when we decided for Him? When we started going to
church? When we said, I'm going to stop
doing this, when I start doing that? When did he choose us? Before the foundation of the
world. And to what end? What's the result
for us that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world? That we should be holy and without blame before him
in love. How can it be? How can it be
such a man as this, full of sin, be described as I am described
in chapter 2, verse 1, this man here, dead in trespasses and
sins? who, in verse two, walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. And that means, what's that mean? The course of this world can
be summed up in the last word of verse two, disobedience. And still, describing who I am
by nature in the middle of verse 3, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind. Is it possible that this man,
a child of wrath even as others, should be holy and without blame
before Him in love? It is possible because the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ back in Ephesians 1 5.
Having predestinated us. Unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. Predestinated. I was on a path. a path that led straight to destruction,
a path that went against God and His grace and His mercy as
fast as I could. But God, in grace, predestined. He had a course set for me. He said it. He changed it. He changed me that I would be predestinated
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, and
I love this next line, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. the triune God, not because he
saw something in us, in us sinners, but according to the good pleasure
of his will, he chose from a fallen race of mankind, a race that
is disobedient, rebellious, sinful, and dead, in short, ungodly. a number that no man can number,
to show them grace and mercy. The Father of God chose these
people, and He gave them to the Son of God." And in the next
few verses, we'll read how He redeemed us. Ephesians 1, 7. In the beloved, in our Lord Jesus
Christ, we have right now, in this present evil state that
we're in, redemption through his blood. The wages of sin is
death. Our sins were not just swept
under a rug. They weren't silently disregarded. but our justice was satisfied
on our behalf. The Holy One of Israel came to
his people, to his bride, and he lived among them. He lived
as them. He lived the righteous life that
we could not. Then, he bearing the sin and
shame that the bride had earned and actively sought out to herself,
He became one with her. He took her burden, and he went
to Calvary's cross. He endured the judgment. He suffered
the wrath that we earned. He bled. He laid down his life
because of our sin. When he cried, it is finished,
our redemption price was paid. When we had nothing to pay, our
Lord Jesus Christ paid the debt we owed and freely forgave us. Verse 7, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. For what reason was
our sin forgiven? For some good seen in us? No. But according to the riches of
his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, 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."
Again, the power of God's sovereignty, his wisdom in Christ Jesus. And this is where I wanted to
get to. Why should the holy, triune, self-sufficient God choose
a people? Why should the Son of God come
and suffer and die so that he gets all the glory? Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. We sinners,
saved by God's grace, we do indeed look to and trust in our Lord
Jesus Christ. But before we ever placed our
trust in him, God the Father placed all of his trust in God
the Son, and he placed his chosen people in him. The Father of
God chose us, the Son of God bore our sin, suffered, bled,
died, and redeemed us, and the Spirit of God regenerates and
seals us. Verse 13, in whom ye also trusted,
after that ye heard the word of truth. How did you hear the
word of truth? By the foolishness of preaching.
not foolish preaching, but what the world calls foolishness as
I stand here just telling you what the Word of God says. After that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation In whom also, after
that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of his glory. When a man proposes to a woman,
he generally gives her a token. Most of the time it's an engagement
ring. And this token is a symbol of his promise that she's going
to be his bride. From that time, she has the hope,
she has the confident expectation of one day being with him as
his wife. But she doesn't have all that
he has until she is his bride, until that wedding day. While
we are in this world, the Holy Spirit tells us the things of
Christ. He speaks to us concerning our
Lord and His glory. But one day, our full salvation
will be revealed to us. We'll drop this robe of flesh,
and we will enter into His presence without sin, and then we'll know
as we have been known. As the seasons of our life come
and go with all these changes, all the good times, the sad times,
the painful times, how we long for a solid, lasting, firm foundation. In everything we've read in this
chapter, absolutely nothing has been left being questionable.
Every phrase is certain without any hint of hesitancy. Listen
to these declarations. Who hath blessed, hath chosen,
hath made, have redemption. All of it's in the past tense.
It's all declared as fully and completely done. Above and beyond
that, it's all been done without my involvement. He hath chosen
in Christ. He hath blessed us in Christ. He shed his blood. He sealed. He purchased. Salvation is of
the Lord from the very beginning to the very end and all points
in between. I didn't make my salvation, that
means I can't mess it up because I certainly try. What will we do because of all
that He has done? What's our response when we see
what God in His wonderful grace and mercy to us in Jesus Christ? What is our response? Verse 15. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love, faith in Christ produces
love, which shall be expressed. And love unto all the saints.
Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers. Don't we do the same thing today?
Now, speaking for myself, not very well. But at every mention
of a brother or sister, every mention of a community where
God has raised up a people, we give thanks and we ask the
Lord's blessings upon them, just as Paul recorded here. Paul prays,
and the Holy Spirit working in us gives us similar prayers for
one another. Excuse me. that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, from whom all blessings
flow, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him, oh, that we might know more of our Lord. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that the blindness of sin might be removed, and
we be able to see more of His glory. That ye may know what
is the hope, that confident expectation of His calling, and what the
riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power to usward who believe, according
to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. Oh, that we might know the Lord
Jesus Christ, and be found in him, that we might see him high
and lifted up, and that he receives all glory, all honor, and all
power. I hope the Lord has been pleased
to bless us with this word and that in all of our life's ups
and downs we might find comfort in the sure word that God has
given to his chosen, to his redeemed, and to his sealed people. Amen. It's been a pleasure being here
again. If you would, bow your heads
with me. Our high and heavenly Father,
Lord God Almighty, we thank you for your word. We thank you for
the message we've just heard. Thank you for the one who brought
it. Thank you for those who are here to hear it. Lord, we thank
you for the means in which it gets broadcast to those who are
unable to be here, for those who are listening and tuned in
and will watch it later. Lord, we just thank you. We thank you for the dear saints
of God. Lord, we ask that you'd bless
this word to our hearts. Keep it there, keep it fresh.
As we go into this world this week, Lord, we ask for traveling
mercies for Obi and his family as they go back home tonight.
We ask for traveling mercies for our pastor and his dear wife
as they come back to us. Lord, and for all the other saints
out there who are going to be traveling, Lord, I ask that you'd keep us
as we go our way. Cause us to come back together
again to hear your word proclaimed. I ask that will be done for Christ's
sake. Amen. Let's all stand together and
see if we can sing number one in the course book. My hope is in the Lord, who gave
himself for me, and paid the price of all my sin at Calvary
for me. He died for me He lives And everlasting
life in life He freely gives No merit of my own His anger
to suppress, My only hope is found in Jesus' righteousness
for me. He died for me He lives An everlasting
life in life He freely gives And now for me He stands Before
His Father's throne He shows His wounded hands and names me
as His own. For me, He died. For me, He lives. And everlasting life in my being
freely My Lord has done it all, no work
is left for me. In this I rest, my soul is blessed
eternally. For me, he died. For me, he lives. And everlasting life and life
he freely gives. You're dismissed. We'll meet
again Wednesday as far