If you want to read along, turn
to Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, chapter 1. Last week I spoke on the glory
of God. I will do, Lord willing, the same
this morning. But what I will do, rather than reading the passage
at length, I want to read three verses. Now we'll probably go
back and read the passage as I go through a few points here.
Ephesians chapter 1, listen to what Paul writes in verse 6.
To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made
us accepted in the Beloved. Now listen to verse 12. That
we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. Now verse 14, which is the earnest
of our inheritance, speaking of the sealing of the Spirit
of God in verse 13, which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
His glory. I want to ask you a question. Why does God save sinners? If you ask that question out
here, even this morning, you'd probably get a hundred different
answers, if not more. There is one reason why God Almighty
saves sinners. To bring glory and honor to Himself. God certainly has pity toward
His people, but God does not save us out of pity. God saves us to glorify Himself. Think of it. Set your heart and
mind on it this morning. I don't say this just as some
cliché. is some mere introduction. Set
your hearts and minds on it. God's glory, the glory of God. I do not understand that as I
should. And I know I cannot express it
as it ought to be expressed. And yet, God has ordained that
Clay Potts be the messengers to declare His glory. Now last
week we've seen this. I will try to be brief. But we've
seen this. God is glorious. He is intrinsic glory. He is
full glory. He is revealed glory. He is both
creator and creative glory. Any glory that there is, God
created. There is righteous glory. There
is revelatory glory. There is distinct glory. God
is essential glory. And you could go on down the
list. But there's something else. It's
what I mentioned last week. According to the Apostle Paul
in Romans 1, Men change and exchange God's glory for a lie. They turned the glory of God
into and made it like into corruptible beasts. Four-footed beasts and
fowls and creeping things. Men change and exchange God's
glory. And that's you and me by nature.
Let us not read Romans chapter 1 and think about them out there. Let us read Romans chapter 1
and think about me in here by nature. Men change and exchange
God's glory. That glory that Paul said was
manifest both in us and to us. How that's all true doesn't matter. God says it's so. that that glory
was manifest in us and to us, seen and understood even by the
things that are made, by creation. And if, now there are some who
God has, because Paul said he did, and if God gives me up If
God gives me over to a reprobate mind, then my distortion of God's
glory will turn to my utter damnation. That's what Romans chapter 1
teaches. But, I don't want to leave it there.
Because this book does not leave it there. But God's glory does
not hinge nor is it held up by corrupt, fallen, Adamic humanity. As a matter of fact, even our
lies do not change God essentially. They do not to personally change
God's glory. What we do is take the glory
of God and we then transfer it onto something else. That's what
we're actually in effect trying to do. And in so doing, we're
lying on God. God's glory doesn't hinge on
us. And I'm glad for that. As a matter of fact, God's glory
doesn't even hinge on me standing here before you this morning
preaching the truth. God's glory doesn't hinge on
corrupt, fallen, Adamic humanity, even God's glory in salvation.
No, let me change that. Especially God's glory in salvation. I say this with sadness of heart,
though it may not seem like it. But as God is my witness, I say
this with sadness of heart. Most people, when they talk about
God's glory, and then begin to talk about salvation, they then
try to dethrone God. They don't speak of salvation
in light of God's glory. They speak of salvation in light
of man's will. According to the Apostle Paul,
and I'll, no, I was going to say I'll take his side. It doesn't
matter. It's God's side. According to the Apostle Paul,
God's mercy, God's compassion, God's salvation is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but it is of God that
showeth mercy. Salvation hinges on God. Now there are eight things I
want to give you from Ephesians chapter 1. I will try to be brief, but some
of these things I will merely mention. I will summarize and
move on to the ones I want to try to deal with in particular
this morning. Number one, there are eight things there. Number
one, the Father's predestination and election and actual blessing
of a people was and is secured according to God's sovereign
will to the praise of the glory of His grace. Now let's read
the whole thing. Actually, let's read the whole
thing of this statement. Chapter 1, verse 3. 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 that is there's a foundation from which these
blessings flow. Yes According as he has chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love but election itself
is not the first thing he says is having a predestinated. So in God's order, though not
in time, in God's order, God presents it to us this way. Predestination,
election, blessing. Now Paul starts with the blessing,
then goes to the election, to the predestination, but the wording
lets us know the order in God's purpose is predestination, election,
and blessing. Then he says, thus says, having
That is, He chose us, having predestinated us under the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. How? According to the
good pleasure of His will. Two, the praise of the glory
of His grace. Why here? He mentions glory actually
four times. I read three of them in chapter
one. At least four times. Well, I read the first three. Why hear the glory of His grace? The other two, he just says,
to the praise of His glory, verse 12. Verse 14, unto the praise
of His glory. But in the first one, he specifically
is moved by the Spirit of God to write to the praise of the
glory of His grace. Two things. First of all, it
is not because the second two have nothing to do with grace. The second two have as much to
do with grace as the first one does. But I, my, and this is
my thoughts on the matter. One reason why he states it,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, is God Almighty, God
does know this. He knows how corrupt, how deceitful,
how much we love lies rather than truth. And most people talk
about grace, yeah, Jesus grace. Preaching the gospel, believing
the gospel, grace. Sealing by the Spirit, yeah,
grace. But in our election to predestination, God looked into
the future and seen what you would do. But from the get-go, the Apostle
Paul being moved by the Spirit of God, speaking about the Father's
work, The triune God is at work here, but here he's concentrating
mainly on the father's work And he wants us to be no doubt that
the father's work of predestinating Electing and blessing in Christ
is totally what by his grace Paul says concerning the election
He calls it in Romans chapter 11 verse 5 and 6, he says, it
is the election of grace. Now this idea, and I used to
be under that deception years ago. The most common idea amongst
pseudo-Christianity is that God looked into the future, seeing
who would believe, seeing who would give their heart to the
Lord, seeing who would repent, and whatever, who would be baptized,
and God seeing what man would do, and God chose based upon
what man would do. That is what they call a lie. Because first of all, we were
predestinated under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of God's will, and those
who were already predestinated, God said, I chose them in Christ. And those I chose in Christ,
I blessed them with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places
in Christ. There's the order. That settles
it. all the books of argument about
it or against it in the past were already refuted when Paul
wrote this right here. You don't need a book of theology
to find out the order of God. Just read this epistle right
here. Two things here under this first
one. That's the father's predestination and election and actual blessing
of a people was and is secured according to God's sovereign
will for what reason? Two, the praise of the glory
of His grace. First of all, those who reject
predestination and election. I said reject it. I'm not talking
about knowing all about it. I probably don't know all about
it. I don't understand it all. I can't make it all fit, but
those who reject predestination and election while espousing
blessing, they despise the glory of God's grace. You can't pick
and choose what parts you want of it and call it grace and reject
the other part of it. These three things, predestination,
election and blessing, are so meld together you cannot separate
them without lying on God. There is a difference between
rejecting and knowing. I understand that. It's not that
a person has to know all these things. But as we will see in
a moment, God Almighty does reveal these things to those He saves.
See, God Almighty saves sinners. And then God lets those sinners
know, this is how I saved you. We'll see Paul say that. Not
in those words, but we'll read that. That's the first thing
under this first heading. Those who reject. I'm talking
about reject. I've talked to people, they get
angry when you mention predestination and election. You mean that they'll
go off on something. What I mean is what this says
right here. You know? Those who reject that, they are
rejecting Christ Himself. Because God predestinated unto
adoption by Jesus Christ. God chose in Christ. The spiritual
blessings flow, how? In Christ. So if you reject any
of those three things, you are in truth, you are in fact, I
should better say, you're rejecting Christ. This ain't about just
some doctrine. What do you believe? It ain't
about what you believe, it's about who you believe. That's
just the way it is. We are too tough. I'm not near
as tough as God. Secondly, those who espouse,
now listen, those who espouse predestination and election while
belittling ignoring or etherealizing blessing, they mock the glory
of God's grace. See, there are those out there
that say we believe in predestination and election, but all that other
stuff is ethereal. If you're one of the elect, you'll
wake up in heaven one day and everything will be fine and dandy. It don't work that way. Now there
are those who accuse those who preach the truth of teaching
that, but that's not what we teach. We teach predestination,
election, and then spiritual blessings. Why? Because that's what the book
teaches. That's the whole of God's purpose, not just one part. I mean, there are those who even
go as far as to say, there are some who are predestinated and
elected, and they're given life by the Spirit of God, but they're
never converted, and they go to heaven because they're elect,
predestinated, and regenerated. Now let me say this, regeneration
must precede conversion. But God don't regenerate you
so you can go to the kingdom of heaven. He regenerates. He
gives the new birth, the birth from above, so first of all you
can see it, John chapter 3, and enter it, John chapter 3. Regeneration
is not an end in itself. God regenerates men and women
so that they can see. And those who then see will what? Enter. And you're going to enter
by faith before you ever enter it with your body. Those who espouse predestination
and election while etherealizing, making it just, it's out there,
it's nice. We've got spiritual blessings,
but we really don't know what they are. Paul lists several
of them right here. And for years, when I read this,
I thought, well, what are the spiritual blessings? And they're right
here in front of me. Predestination is one of them. Election is another
one. Redemption is another one. Forgiveness
of sins is another one. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, that's another one. Love for the saints, that's
another one. And on and on and on. Those who espouse predestination
and election while etherealizing, denying, ignoring, or whatever
the blessings, they're actually mocking the glory of God's grace.
They're actually mocking Christ. Christ did not come to this world
just so we could take a few people to heaven. He could have done
that from the get-go. Right? He came to redeem sinners
from their sin. And in so doing, bring honor
and glory to God. I say this, and what I'm about
to say, I use this person as an illustration for two reasons.
One, to encourage that person to just keep on keeping on. And
secondly, to encourage everybody else in this life. I've been
with somebody who said they believed in free sovereign grace. but
come to find out later they really didn't. My wife has been under fire lately. You begin to talk to someone
about a specific point of scripture, a specific truth of scripture,
a specific doctrine of scripture, and you know why she's heard
lately? From more than one person. Well, you don't know it all.
And she thinks within her own mind, I'm not trying to tell
you at all, just this one point. You know what that is when people
do that? It's a smoke screen. If you're dealing with predestination,
if you're talking about that doctrine in particular, and somebody
says, well, you don't know it all, just tell them, I'm not
trying to tell you at all, just this one little bit, and you
don't even want that. It's a smoke screen. It's not about knowing
it all. Sadly, and I say this with sadness
of heart, there are many that even I personally am aware of
that talk about, I believe in sovereign grace, but they never
talk anything about conversion. A change of mind, a change of
heart, a change of walk, a change of lifestyle, It's like, well,
as long as I'm one of the elect, everything will be fine. No,
if you're one of the elect, God Almighty is going to send His
Spirit to you, He's going to send the gospel preacher to you,
and God Almighty is going to turn your life upside down. And
He will bow you before Jesus Christ. One specifically told
my wife Penny just the other day, well, I believed in sovereign
grace before so-and-so did. Well, Saul of Tarsus believed
in sovereign grace before that person did. Peter believed in sovereign grace
before Paul did. That's got nothing to do with
anything. They never talk about being bowed to the person of
Christ. They talk about coming to believe
some doctrine. companies that believe some thing. Salvation
is the whole thing, and it's all wrapped up in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. And if you've missed Him, you've
missed it all. I don't care if you believe in
predestination and election. Doctrinally, theologically, if
you miss Christ, you missed it all. But before I give you the second
one, let me say this. These spiritual blessings, because you see the
order. Predestination, election, spiritual blessings. Okay? These
spiritual blessings are concrete and real. I say that metaphorically
when I say concrete. But they're real. Here's the
second thing. There is redemption through Christ's
blood. That's one of the spiritual blessings.
His blood was real. It was real blood, real human
blood, which even is called the blood of God Almighty Himself. That's an amazing statement.
What is it, Acts 20? Acts 27? Paul calls the blood
of human nature the very blood of God, that God redeemed the
church with His own blood. But it was real human blood.
It wasn't ethereal, Joe. It wasn't make-believe. I think
that's what some of the Aryans years ago taught. Jesus wasn't
really a human. He just looked like he was. No,
he was a real man. Real flesh and blood. And it
was real blood and it was real redemption. Real redemption. Secondly, there is forgiveness
of sins. And the sad part is, a lot of
these people that I'm talking about, the ones that some of
my wife talks to, I talk to them too, some of them. You've probably
talked to them too. To them, it's like sin is some
fairy tale, some archaic thing. No, sin is the reality of my
soul. I don't just commit sin, I am
sin. I'm not just in darkness, I am
darkness. I'm not just on the wrong road,
I am the wrong road. There is, Paul says here, verse
6 and 7, there is forgiveness of sin. In whom, verse 7, we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. How much so? According to the
riches. Now why didn't you just say grace?
Because we're so dull, we need to have it hammered home to us.
According to the riches. We understand something about
that. If we don't got it, we want it. Riches, right? We know
at least the pursuit of it, the desire of it, but Paul uses it
here to describe what? Even God's grace. The riches
of His grace. I am reminded, as I thought about
this, And I said, I can't even think of his name, Tim James.
When you talk about the mercy of God, and someone says, well,
let God be merciful to you. God, do you understand what an
insult that is? If someone offends you, then
they're supposed to come to you and say, I'm going to let you
show me mercy? The first thing you want to do
is just draw back and show them a little justice. No, mercy comes from the one
offended. Yes. Absolutely, completely,
or it's not mercy. Exactly. And grace comes totally
from without side that which has been gracious toward. God
is the God of all grace. Therefore, God didn't look into
the future and see a little bit of grace in you. Exactly. He purposed
in His own sovereign will to give grace to a people. Amen. There's forgiveness of sin, real
sin, and real forgiveness. Jesus Christ was made sin for
us. He suffered the wrath and judgment
of God Almighty when He was on that tree. God dealt with sin
literally, actually, and in reality, not just in theory. Number four,
there is a true, clear, practical acumen, wisdom, that's what he
calls it here, and mental insight, prudence, he writes here, abounded
toward us because God made known unto us the mystery of His will. Look at it now. Let's read it.
Wherein. Wherein what? Wherein all this. The whole thing. Go back. Now go backwards. Forgiveness. Redemption. Being accepted in
the Beloved. Being to the praise of the glory
of His grace. Being predestinated. Being chosen. Being blessed. Wherein He abounded toward us
in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery
of his will. In other words, when God saves
a sinner, God will teach that sinner how he saved the sinner. The reason most people reject
predestination, because they weren't saved having anything
to do with predestination. The reason they reject election,
the reason they reject blood, redemption, the reason they reject
true forgiveness, well they never really experienced any of those
things. And let me tell you something, election is an experience. You
know how I know that? God chose in Christ before the
world began. But it also says in Acts 13.48,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed. Election rushes forth. Predestination
rushes forth. Redemption by blood rushes forth. Forgiveness of sins rushes forth
into an individual and they believe it. They believe it. They know about it. Have He made
known? Now you don't have to know to
be saved any more than you had to know to be elected. But those
who got elected, He's going to let them know in time, you've
been elected. You've been predestinated. And
Paul even says that to the Thessalonians, knowing, brethren, your election
of God. How could you know that? We weren't
around. That was in eternity. When no
one but God, the triune God Himself existed, and He wrote these names
down in the Lamb's Book of Life, Joe, back then. How could we
know that God chose me then? We haven't seen the book. As
far as I know, it's still sealed. with seven seals, possibly. How
do we know? Paul says, knowing your election
of God. Why? Because our gospel didn't come to you just as some
word. It came to you in power and much assurance. You became
followers of us and the Lord. You don't just follow the Lord
and then go your own merry way. You follow the Lord and God's
people too. You're either with both or you ain't with either
one. Well, I'm with God's people, but I don't know if I believe
all that. You ain't one of God's people then. At least you've
never been brought to see it yet. But if you're one of these
here Paul's talking about, you will be. Querying, he bounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. And look, here's what, boy, I'm
sure glad I got a great preacher. You ought to be glad you got
a great preacher. You ought to thank God for it. Some places
don't have one all the time. But here's what it hinges on.
According to his good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.
He's going to see to it that it comes to fruition. Those He's
saving, He's going to manifest the mystery of His will to them. It's going to happen. That lets me know that if I know
Christ, God Almighty made sure it happened. That's what it is. I thank God for Job Galusik.
I thank God for Earl Cochran. as my heart and mind bears witness
before God, but it didn't hinge on them. It hinged on God. And He'll take a Jonah. I don't
know if you want to be a Jonah or somebody else, Joe. He'll
take a Jonah and make a Jonah come to you. You hear what I
said? Make him against his will. Jonah
didn't want to go down yon way. He went that way. When people
say he ran from God, no he didn't, he ran into God. He went that
way because he thought God wasn't that way. He found out God was
already over there. Didn't he? And then God turned him right
around and sent him right back to where God had purposed for
him to go. Why? Because according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in himself, it didn't hinge on Jonah. It don't hinge on me. It don't
hinge on Joe. It don't hinge on anybody else.
It all rests in God. That's number four. Number five,
there will be a real in-gathering together. 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. One day, it's all going to kind
of come to a head. It's all going to be wound up.
And finally, we're going to say, you know what? This was real
after all. This was real. And I remember
Scott Richardson saying something along this line, you know, when
you finally get there, when God winds it all up and you're there
and you see the masses of the elect, a number which no man
can number. Not just some little small group,
it's a number which no man can number. Scott Richardson would
say, I figure I'm going to say something like, bless God I really
made it. But you know what? We won't make
it. because God Almighty determined we make it. He done sent the
forerunner there saying the rest of them's coming. That's right.
Because I'm here. Christ is the forerunner. What's the forerunner?
He's the one that goes in first and says the rest of them are
coming. Amen. And we read here that we're coming
because of Him. That's right. Because of Him.
There will be an end gathering one day. Number six, an inheritance
is obtained in Christ by predestination. See it? In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestined, or we can say having
been, predestination came first, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Paul doesn't keep saying it over
and over just to be repetitive. He keeps saying it over and over
because we're so prone to forget it. or so prone to want to turn
somewhere else. He keeps saying it's all of God.
It's all of God. All of God. All of God. But notice, an inheritance is
obtained being predestinated. So if you've been predestinated,
you will, sometime or another in time, obtain an inheritance. You see it? And God don't give
inheritances and then just let you try to figure out what it
is. He reveals to you, one, who it is and what it's all about. There will be this real in-gathering.
There is an inheritance that is obtained in Christ by predestination
number seven. This, all of this, constitutes
the predestinated themselves as objects of praise to God's
glory. See it? Verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of His glory. We. We, the very people. In Romans chapter 8, I forget
the verse, but Paul puts it this way. There's going to be a glory
revealed in us. That boggles my mind. Not just
to us. The glory's already been revealed to us. One day, bless
God, the glory shall be revealed in us. I will be done with me.
Some of you give me trouble. But you ain't nothing compared
to me. I can avoid you. I can't avoid me. Well, I can
avoid you for a while. You understand? My problem's
not you. My problem's not the devil. My
problem wasn't even Adam. My problem's me. That's my chief
problem. My problem's not the world. My
problem's not the bars and the brothel. That's not my problem.
It's me. Adam fell in the garden and there wasn't a brothel or
a bar of wine around. What was that? There was no other woman
for Him to go lusting after. Just one and He still fell. How
much more? Me and all of this morass. And
all of this in here. And inheritance. But this constitutes
inheritance is obtained in Christ by predestination. But this all
constitutes that the predestinated themselves, they're the objects
that are going to be to the praise of His glory. Now here's the
last one. These spiritual blessings include hearing the Word of Truth. That's the good news that Christ
has saved somebody. Hearing the Word of Truth, trusting,
and I'm going to put it this way, trusting slash believing. A lot of people believe in Jesus,
but they don't trust Him. They believe in Jesus and trust
themselves. You see what I'm saying now? That's the point
I'm trying to... This believing Paul's talking about, is associated,
tied up with, just read it, with trusting. And the trusting has
to do with not just believing in Him, believing Him. Believing
Him. So these spiritual blessings
include hearing the Word of Truth, trusting and believing Christ,
being sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who He is, the down
payment and guarantee until final completion of this redemption
thing. That's what he says in verse
13 and 14. Here's my summary. These are not three glories.
See that's what some people try to make. These are three glories
and you pick out which one you like best or you take all three if
you want to. You see what I'm saying? These are one glory. manifested in the work of the
triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. It's one glory. You either
got them all or you got none. You see what I'm saying? You
can't say I like that glory but I don't like, I like the glory
of the Father choosing. I don't know much about that
redemption thing. You know, if God chose the people
and the reason He had to choose us in Christ was because there
wasn't anything in us to choose. God hates all workers of iniquity.
My wife, God help her. God encourage her to keep on
going on. Is now having someone who says
they believe in sovereign grace come unto her and say, well,
God hates the sin, but He loves the sinner. That's the lie I
was under back when I was in false religion. These are people
who say they believe in sovereign grace. Espousing this stuff now. I'm like, David, right? It's
like, what's wrong? Something's wrong. Now, I'm not
going to stand here and condemn, but something's wrong, folks.
You know what I'm saying? Something's wrong. God doesn't
love sinners. God loves people who are sinners. God commended His love toward
us while we were yet sinners Christ's day. He didn't say God
loves sinners. God hates all workers of iniquity. God loves
a people, how? In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. In Christ. All of this. He just
keeps saying it over and over. Christ. Christ. Christ. And you
know, the natural mind says I'm tired of hearing about Christ.
That's your problem. I love to keep, I need to keep
hearing about Christ. That's my only hope. I mean,
when I look in here at me, I see the lake of fire. licking flames
toward my soul. I deserve it. You know, even
after all this, Norris, if God said, you've got to go to hell,
because of my law, I've got to go to hell. Even if I've served God all my
life, because of my sin, I'd have to
go to hell. Well, I believed in the Lord,
I repented, but what about your sin? What about you seeing that? So again I say these are not
three glories here. There is one glory manifest in
the one triune God. I either partake of them all
or I have no claim to even one part of it. I either partake
of them all. Now God is going to teach His
people in His time. He's going to make known the
mystery of His will in His good time. But He is doing that. Now
Paul's writing to a people who already understood that. But
let me tell you something, you don't pick and choose what parts
you want of God's salvation. God didn't leave it up to, it's
not a crapshoot. It's not out there, it's not
three little shells in front of you and you pick which ones
you want. It's either all or nothing. To put it that way,
either God saves you or you'll never be saved. And God will
save you in Christ and you'll never be saved. Father, as we
continue As we take this table, may it truly, Lord, be in remembrance
of your son. I ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Paul and Roy Jr., would y'all
come and take this?