So good to see you all here this
morning. Today I'm delivering the fourth
and the final message of a series of messages that address the
subject of what it means to be blessed in Christ. And this series
you'll recall is an exposition of Ephesians 1 verses 3 through
14. A passage it reads as if it's
like one long sentence. A sentence, though, that sets
forth the multifaceted blessings of eternal salvation by God's
sovereign grace in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll remember
that we talked before how this whole passage reveals how it
is a triune God, Jehovah God, acting in three co-equal, co-eternal
persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
all acting in perfect unison with their undivided essence
of deity to achieve the one God's design in the salvation of his
people. And we see that particularly
today as we now move into the passage that deals with the work
of the Holy Spirit in salvation. And as such, I want you to ponder
with me today the great love of God that is manifested in
these respective offices and the work of each of these three
persons of the Godhead. as they show favor in their various
respective offices to these objects of God's everlasting love. To
refresh your memory, we saw in verses three through six, God
the Father choosing and appointing. And then we saw in verse seven,
God the Son accomplishing that which they were chosen to by
the Father. And then today as we look at
verses 8 through 14, we'll see God the Holy Spirit making known
so as to make these blessings that are all in Christ precious
to these objects of his everlasting love. In preparing this message,
it struck me how God, through the Apostle Paul's writing here,
has really spelled out for us in very clear, very unmistakable
terms what is true of each and every one of these saints to
whom he's writing. Saints that can be said that
he's writing to in every generation who are, as verse 3 put it, blessed
in heavenly places with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
what, in Christ. So with that observation, I want
to issue a challenge of sorts, really, to everyone who hears
this message. It stands to reason that if you're
listening to this, you're probably a religious person. Most who
hear this message will probably consider themselves of the Christian
faith. And as such, then you probably
have judged yourself to be among the number so blessed in Christ. And I pray that's an accurate
assessment. But regardless, we all should certainly not hesitate
to heed God's command as it's issued to the brethren in 1 Peter
1, to give diligence, to make your calling and election sure.
And so with that, I ask today that we all consider a very important
question. You may recall the first message
of this series was titled, Eternally Blessed in Christ. Well, today
the question is, are you eternally blessed in Christ? And that's
the title of today's message. And it's an important question.
And you know, it's one that if answered not by what we feel
or how we think, but according to what God has to say, by the
one standard of truth, God's word, it'll reveal to us whether
our hope for all eternity is a valid one or not. We could
ask that question probably in several ways. Do I, do you believe
God's gospel? His way of salvation is set forth
in the scriptures. Do you, do I have scriptural
evidence to consider ourselves among the saved? Well, this passage,
the entire passage actually provides the descriptions whereby we can
make such judgments and that according to this one standard
of truth. So with that, let's go through the passage. I'll
walk through the passage with you and make some comments along
the way. And then in closing, we'll come back and we'll summarize
those clear descriptions from the entire passage, verses three
through 14, of what's made known to everyone who is saved, who
are eternally blessed in Christ, so that we can accurately answer
that question. Are you eternally blessed in
Christ? To capture the full context,
we'll start our reading back in verse three. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and 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, that is in Christ, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. And so we'll pick
up from there today with our text beginning in verse eight,
where he continues saying here now, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. Now, I'll remind you again, we
see it's abounding grace, as Romans 5.20 puts it, but where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. And it reads that
his grace here so abounded toward these saints, that is those he
saves, in all wisdom and prudence. Now prudence here is speaking
of the practical application of wisdom whereby these, see,
are made intelligent of something. Something's made known to them.
Something's revealed or manifested. And that by virtue of God's abounding
grace. And verse nine begins to tell
us when it says what is made known. It says, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself." Now, the verses before verse
9 and the verses after verse 9 tell us what this mystery of
His will is all about. Keep in mind that the entire
passage here is speaking of how the triune God purposed to save
and does save those that the Father chose from before the
foundation of the world in Christ. So we know that it's speaking
of no less than the gospel itself, the gospel, the good news of
how God saves sinners. If we looked on over in the book
of Ephesians in chapter six, verse 19, Paul wrote there that
the purpose of his ministry was to make known the mystery, and
there he uses the term gospel, he says the mystery of the gospel. You may recall that Greek word
that's translated mystery in the New Testament is a word that
doesn't have the connotation of knowledge with hell, as we
often use the word in our language. We may say something, well, it's
just a mystery as if it cannot be understood. No, rather that
word that is translated mystery is one that has the connotation
of truth, but truth that must be revealed. In other words,
it's truth, but it must be revealed to you. So in that sense, and
that sense alone is a mystery, and that's an important distinction.
If you want to on your own, you can look up that word mystery,
and you'll see that it's always accompanied with words that tell
us that's the context in which it's used, as it is here in Ephesians
1. It's a mystery that's made known. Elsewhere, it's said to be a
mystery that's manifested. or a mystery that's revealed,
or a mystery that is preached. And then as it describes those
who are saved, it's a mystery they come to understand. And
so here in verse 9, now having expressed his purpose to make
the mystery of the gospel known, he continues to relate his purpose
in verse 10 saying 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. Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5 reads,
but when the fullness of times was come, and I think that can
be likened to as in our passage in Ephesians 1, in the dispensation
of the fullness of times. There in Galatians it says, what
took place? God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. He was put under that same jurisdiction that those
he came to save are under, that we might receive the adoption
of sons. You see, that's what God did
to gather together in one all things in Christ. It's speaking
of what Christ accomplished at the cross. As we saw in Ephesians
1, redemption, the forgiveness of sins through his blood. Now
in studying verse 10 here, I came across various explanations of
what's meant by this phrase of God gathering together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth. As to that which is in heaven and earth, there are those
who would say that's Old Testament saints and those who have not
yet gone on. Others would say that is referring
to angels. I'm not sure in this case. But I think it is clear here
that he's referring to the gathering together in one, both the Jews
and Gentiles. You have to remember the era
in which this was written. I mean, the gospel is just now
going out to the Gentiles. And I think most conclude that's
what's meant here because in John chapter 11, verse 52, Caiaphas,
the high priest, is prophesying that Jesus should die. And he
says, not for those among the Jews only, but also the children
of God among the Gentiles. And it uses that phrase, gathering
together in one. So I think clearly it is referring
to that. But I also think verse 10 here
may be understood in a broader sense. Notice the wording speaks
of gathering together in one all things in Christ. both which are in heaven, or
as your Bible notes may show, in the heavens, and which are
on earth, and I love it, it says in him, emphasizing again that
all of it is in Christ. And so I believe here this does
include all people, in other words, from all nations, as Jews
and Gentiles alike, but also I think it's the reconciling
of all things in the universe. And all of redemptive history,
you see, coming and converging together upon the accomplishment
that Christ had at the cross, the finished work he accomplished
there. If we looked on down in Ephesians
1, down in verse 19, we read, 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, Just pause right there and think of that. This
mystery of the gospel is revealed to these who are saved and it's
a miraculous thing. He says it's the greatness, it's
according to the same power that raises a spiritually dead sinner
to spiritual life that raised Christ from the dead. That's
an awesome work. He says, which he wrought in
Christ when he raised him from the dead set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, or the heavens as verse 10 put
it, 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 he hath put all, and he says
again, things under his feet and gave him to be the head over
all things to the church, a people, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." I'm sure I can't grasp the depth
and the richness of all that's meant there, but we get a glimpse
of it as you heard in the 10 o'clock hour Bill mentioned from
Colossians 2.9. It said there of Christ that
in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You see,
every attribute of God is brought together in this one unique way
of salvation by God's grace in Christ. You see, only by salvation
God's way, as described here in Ephesians 1, can all things
be so reconciled so that sinners can worship him as he is, that
we can behold him as he is. As the prophet Isaiah put it
in Isaiah 45, as both a just God and a savior. You see, it's
only by this way of salvation by grace that we can see God
does not dispense with his justice in order to save a sinner. He doesn't just look the other
way and say, well, I'll just look over your sins. No, they
had to be paid for. A penalty had to be extracted.
And it was paid for, and that's why it said of these saints,
they have, they possess redemption and the forgiveness of sins through
his blood. So these words describing here
how all things are brought together in Christ, in God's way of salvation
alone, they remind me of how a young believer once described
this eye-opening experience of having, and it was over a period
of time, but having then learned of the gospel as taught by God,
the Holy Spirit, under the preaching of the gospel, They said it was
as if, for the first time, all the puzzle parts just fit. You
know, you see, in Christ, it all really does add up. Only
there can the perfection that a holy God requires be rendered. You see, only in a substitutionary,
vicarious work of Christ can we find that we can possess the
very perfection before God that's required. The law being perfectly
satisfied in precept an obedience that we can't render, but which
God imputes or charges to the same people whose sins he charged
to Christ. So only there does everything
fit. You see, only there can we reconcile
the truth of the scripture. Well, I'm gonna leave this verse
with you to ponder some more on your own, because I know we
only scratched the surface of the depth of it. But back in
Ephesians 1, verse 11, He continues writing of Christ saying, 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 will, that we should be to the praise of
his glory, who first trusted in Christ, and he's writing now
to these Gentiles at Ephesus, 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." I believe from the context here, Paul is
referring to himself and other Jewish believers or perhaps even
the Jewish apostles who were commissioned to spread the gospel
to the Gentiles when he says that we, meaning us Jewish believers
or us apostles, should be to the praise of his glory, to God's
glory, who first trusted in Christ. That is, we who first trusted.
The word first there is a word that actually means for, as in
before trusted. So it doesn't mean necessarily
the very first. As we heard preached here so
well, we know that God the Father is the one who first trusted
from before the foundation of the world in Christ, the surety
of a people, to accomplish the very salvation of those that
he gave to Christ. But it seems here in this context
that I think this interpretation fits better, especially as we
proceed now into verse 13. It says, in whom ye also trusted. Up to now, he's been talking
about what we believers all have, and now he's made a distinction.
He says, in we who first trusted, and then in whom ye also trusted. After that, ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The implication being
that you Gentiles trusted in the same Christ that we did after
we heard the same word of truth, the same gospel we heard, same
gospel we believed. And that fits as it continues
there in verse 13 saying, in whom also after that ye believed,
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now to be
sealed here is speaking of having confirmed in our minds the absolute
certainty of salvation as set forth God's way of salvation
in this passage. And it is a way by way of the
free and sovereign grace of God in Christ, wherein as verse seven
showed us, he truly redeemed a people through his blood, meeting
every condition and requirement for their salvation by his obedience
unto death. And so this confirmation to the
believer, you see, is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. And
it's upon all those that God saves, whereby they have, what
a blessing, a promise of the inheritance of life everlasting. Continuing in verse 14, it says,
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. That word earnest there is a
word that bears some similarity to our use of the phrase earnest
money, which refers to the money that's often required as a deposit
when one enters into a sales contract to buy a house or some
real estate. It's money that's given, see,
to express our sincere, earnest intention to fulfill the terms
that we've agreed upon. And it's guaranteed by the fact
that legally, one must forfeit their earnest money if they fail
to follow through with the deal. And so here, too, this earnest
speaks of a guarantee, but there's a big difference. This guarantee
is from a faithful and an almighty God who never fails to follow
through with his intentions The scripture says, his counsel shall
stand. So what we see here is those
that God saves are convinced by God, the Holy Spirit of God's
gospel, wherein they see all their requirements for their
salvation fully met by the doing and dying of their substitute
with no payment left to be made, no contribution from their hands.
In other words, their salvation is not to the praise of their
glory, Something done by, in, or through them that would make
them to differ, but as the end of verse 14 says, unto the praise
of his glory. And then having been so convinced,
having the mystery of the gospel made known unto them by the miraculous
application of it to their hearts and minds, by God the Holy Spirit,
they have this earnest, and it's an earnest, a guarantee from
God, that's a guarantee that cannot fail. That's assurance
of salvation. You know, to have received the
earnest of the Holy Spirit is a precious thing to God's people.
You know, there are times we all have doubts and fears. But
if our confidence is in Christ and in Him alone, not in the
fact I believe in God, not in the fact I have exercised faith
or I pray or I go to church, but if my confidence is in trusting
in the Christ of this gospel and salvation by Him alone, you
see, the scripture tells me whether I feel it or not, I have an earnest
of the Holy Spirit. And you know, that's a work in
which, in one sense, we're altogether passive. You know, that's God's
work upon the believer. And yet, the fact that we're
sealed comes from the idea here that we are, this comes upon
us and that we've been enabled to trust in Christ alone. And so that proves or confirms
our being sealed. And that from the same almighty
powers we read that raised Christ from the dead. And so we're able
to trust solely in Christ and turn from the way that seems
right to us. That's why the Bible says you
must repent. God says you must repent. You
see, as the book of Proverbs says, that way that seems right
is a way that ends in death. to God's gospel, the gospel of
their salvation, the salvation of the saints. So the saints
have this earnest or guarantee of their inheritancy until the
inheritance itself is finally realized in heaven's glory. That's
what's meant by the phrase there, until the redemption of the purchased
possession. You'll recall when we were studying
verse 7, I dealt extensively with the fact that the redemption
through Christ's blood spoke of a finished work, not some
mere attempt made, but a payment paid. Remember, when something's
redeemed, it's not just a payment made toward the end, but it's
the final payment made. That's the very word redemption
carries that connotation. So there's no balance, do. There's nothing left to be done.
These have redemption and the forgiveness of sins through His
blood. See, the payment due unto the
sin debt for everyone for whom Christ lived and died, it was
paid in full. And here, verse 14 is speaking
of the redemption of what? The purchased possession. They're
a purchased people. So this speaks simply of the
realization in time of that which was redeemed or purchased at
the cross of Calvary. Well, we've gone through these
verses, verses 3 through 14 now, and so in light of that entire
passage, I ask us all again to consider, are you eternally blessed
in Christ? To help answer that, let's just
summarize what we've learned from these verses. From today's
text, verses 8 through 14, we've learned some things. We know
that if you're so blessed eternally, these verses are going to describe
you. for speaking of the blessings that all the saints have in Christ.
We saw there in our text today that first of all, something
has been made known to you or revealed to you if you're among
these eternally blessed saints. And secondly, we know that that
which is made known unto you is the mystery of the gospel. It's referred to there in verse
13 as the gospel of their salvation. And thirdly, we also know from
this passage, if you're among the eternally blessed in Christ,
then the mystery of the gospel has been revealed to you, and
that according to God's prescribed means. You see, first of all,
we know from back in verse 7, it's according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he said in verse 8, he abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, making something known to us
by the gift, the revelation of faith, And then look, as Paul
described in verse 13, those who trust in Christ, it said
they do so, what? After hearing the word of truth,
the gospel of their salvation. You see, it's by the very means
of the gospel of grace that's preached to you on this very
occasion that God is pleased to reveal himself to sinners.
Listen, it's not This is not some feeling that overcomes you
and I just feel saved or I feel this spirit in this place or
I'm sitting on a rock in the desert and contemplating the
meaning of life and eternity and all of a sudden a flash comes
over me like I'm struck with a bolt of lightning. It's not
that mystical. It is by God's prescribed means
and yet revelation of the mystery of the gospel to all who say
is miraculous. Why? Because it's a work of God.
It's by the power of God the Holy Spirit. You know, if it's
not, then it's just some higher knowledge you've gained and there's
no need to be making any bones about differing with anyone else.
Now, this is something that changes your whole perspective on how
God saves sinners. It's changing gods. You see,
it's not just feeling saved. There's substance to what is
revealed. I want you to look with me at
the verses after this passage in Ephesians 1 beginning verse
17. He writes of having prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of, listen, of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may, what, know what
is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatnesses
of his power to usward who believe according to the working of his
mighty powers. We read before in verse 19. Well, we see from
today's passage, these eternally blessed saints, they have something
revealed. And that's something that's revealed
is the gospel of God's grace. And thirdly, we know that it
is by means of the gospel being preached, that word of truth
as attended to by the power of the Holy Spirit, made effectual
by God's spirit. Well, that brings us to the key
issue. What is the substance of the gospel that these are
brought to hear and embrace? You see, if you're among these
eternally blessed saints, you've embraced the very same gospel
that the Apostle Paul embraced, and that these believers in Ephesus,
as it said, afterward embraced, as the same gospel that every
believer in every generation embraces. So the question is,
does the gospel here in Ephesians 1 describe your gospel? Does
it describe the basis of your hope for eternal life? Let's
consider from the passage now how God's gospels distinguish
from all other gospels. First, the gospel which sets
forth our God-safe centers, as I've already alluded to, it's
the gospel of grace. As is evident by verse six, if
the adoption of children by Christ, their very salvation is to the
praise of the glory of his grace, then it's a grace wherein he
hath made us accepted in the beloved. You can't do anything
to get yourself accepted in the beloved. God has to make you
one with Christ. As verse seven tells us, we have
redemption. We possess redemption in the
forgiveness of sins, not because we accepted him as our savior
or we did this or we did that, but through his blood. and that
according to the riches of his grace. If it's according to the
riches of his grace, grace means it's not of anything that you
can merit. And as verse 11 describes that
which these eternally blessed saints have attained, it says
that in Christ they've obtained what? An inheritance. I love that description. Being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. Have you obtained an
inheritance? There's nothing you can do to
earn an inheritance, is there? You can't even put yourself in
a position to be an heir. You have to be born into that,
and you didn't have any say-so over what family you were born
into physically. Well, spiritually speaking, to
be born again, to have the eyes of the understanding opened,
you must be an adopted child by Jesus Christ, as was set forth
in verse five of our passage. Now, so the gospel, according
to the scriptures, is the gospel. It is a gospel of grace. But
it's the grace of a sovereign God. You know, most of Christendom
will not argue with the declaration that salvation is by grace. Long
before the mystery of the gospel was revealed to me by the preaching
of it, long before that took place, you said, I would have
said I believed salvation by grace. But sadly, Like me, what
most in our day call grace is anything but grace. At best,
it's a cleverly disguised system of works. And for that reason,
we often try to expose the era of our former ways to those who
still go down that trail of a work salvation by calling it something
different from what they do. We call it free grace or sovereign
grace. You know, describing grace as
sovereign grace is really redundant because there's no such thing
as grace from God who is sovereign except sovereign grace because
God is sovereign. And that means this, you know,
I think in our day we don't have the same concept of a sovereign
king like the kings of the scripture. A king, He was sovereign in those
days. A king made the rules. He made
the law. It was so because he said so.
That's what it is to be sovereign. Well, God is sovereign in all
things, not just the realm of some earthly kingdom, including
in our salvation. And what that means is this.
It means that everything, including the salvation of sinners, is
all according to God's will and purpose. It's not determined
by the presumed free will of man as is so often suggested
today. Now, if you don't like that,
don't be mad with me. Take it up with God because listen
to his word. As he told Moses and is repeated
in Romans 9, Verse 15 and 16, this is what God says. He says,
I will have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. He says, so, then it is not of
him that willeth. It's not of your free will decision.
It's nor of him that runneth. There's nothing you can do to
work your way into this blessing of grace, but it's of God that
showeth mercy. And you see, As long as it's
something done by, in, or through you, you really don't need the
mercy of God. You just need to cut your end
of the bargain. But that's not God's way of salvation. Look
again at the language of our passage today. In Ephesians 1-5,
we read how God predestinated these eternally blessed saints
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, what? According to the good pleasure
of his will. Verse nine, he said that the
revelation of faith of the mystery of the gospel is what? According
to his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. Then in
verse 11, he says that these blessed saints obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things what? After the counsel of his own
will. So we see the gospel. that's revealed to these eternally
blessed saints. You see, it's not only the gospel
of God's grace, or to make sure we don't misunderstand, the gospel
of God's sovereign grace, but it's a gospel whereby Christ
gets all the preeminence. We saw how God the Father is
said to bless all these saints from before the world, all what?
In Christ, based on what he would accomplish at the cross. And
then we see that God, the Holy Spirit, in our passage today,
He points sinners to Christ for all of their salvation, to trust
in Him. In a previous passage, I pointed
out how that phrase, in Christ, is repeated over and over and
over again. We saw in verse 3 how we're blessed
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, what? In
Christ. In verse 4, chosen in Him, meaning
Christ. In verse five, we see these are
predestinated unto adoption, what, by Jesus Christ. In verse
six, we read how they were made accepted in the beloved, meaning
Christ. And then in verse seven, it says,
in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins, in Christ.
And then as we moved into our text for today, we saw how the
work of the Holy Spirit in salvation continues to point sinners to
Christ. In verse 10, We see that what is revealed by the Spirit
is that which took place in the fullness of time by the accomplishment
of Christ's death on the cross, whereby all things are gathered
together in Him. And then verse 11 speaks of the
obtaining of this inheritance, that in having the mystery revealed,
as it was set forth in verse 9, we see in verse 12 that this
is so that we should be to the praise of His glory We who first
trusted, Paul said, and then in verse 13, those who later
trusted in what? In their election? No, in Christ,
in whom they were chosen. Well, that brings me to the final
distinction I want to bring out concerning God's gospel that
all who are eternally blessed in Christ shall hear and they
shall embrace. It's a gospel, you see, whereby
God saves sinners in a way that redounds to the praise of His
glory. You see, it's really this simple. It's just grace and works. If
your hope is based on something that distinguishes you from those
who are lost based on something you've done, something you've
been able to do, whatever, that proceeds from you, the sinner,
then that's to the praise of your glory. That's not to the
praise of His glory. Both verses 6 and 12 make clear
God's design in the salvation of sinners, that it's to the
praise of the glory of His grace, or as verse 12 puts it, simply
to the praise of His glory. Well, how about you? Do you find
your hope in God's way of salvation? You know, some, I think, upon
hearing this gospel for the first time, it's predictable that many
would respond much like I did when I first heard some of these
things. In particular, a passage such as Ephesians 1, I would
say, well, I'm not sure I said, not I would say, I did say these
things. I'm not so sure about this doctrine of election and
predestination and the scriptures that make it so clear, as you
Confront me with them of how God that Christ came and died
for people that God chose unto salvation and I would probably
say well, I just don't know about all that, but I still think I'm
trusting Christ Well, I I just ask that you see what God's Word
said and face reality that if those are your sentiments then
these descriptions of God's Saints and The saved are eternally blessed
in Christ. In Ephesians 1, they just don't
describe you. Not yet. Not at this time. Just
as they didn't describe most of you before God was pleased
to bring the gospel your way. But oh, what good news. You're
hearing that very gospel even today. You see, we know that
it's so. that it would be presumption
to include yourself among them while clinging to a notion that
Christ died for all, or that it's not all of pure grace, you
see, because it just leaves you with no other option. And we
see this with hindsight of saving grace, okay? But that's this. There's no other option left
for you but then to imagine if it's not all of God, it must
be conditioned on something that proceeds from you, the sinner.
And that, my friend, is to the praise of your glory, not God's,
that would be salvation by works, no matter how often we all called
it grace. You see, that is a way that stands
in direct opposition to the gospel of God's sovereign grace, which
is revealed to all who are saved. As we read, the saved have revealed
unto them, you see, that theirs is what? An inheritance. to which
they were predestinated as chosen children of God in Christ. It's an inheritance that Christ
purchased for them, and accordingly, you see, they must, they do trust
in Christ for all their salvation. They plead the merits of his
person and work, his righteousness, not their faith, not anything
done by or in or through them, but His righteous and the perfect
satisfaction He rendered before God's justice and that alone
for all of their salvation. Well, that's what it is to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. As the scripture teaches, those
who have been so enabled to trust, whosoever believeth on the Lord
Jesus Christ shall be saved. Not whosoever believes that they
believed and will be saved on that basis, but who believes
on Christ. If these verses here in Ephesians
1 truly describe your faith, your gospel, your hope of eternal
life, then rejoice, you see, for such are the eternally blessed
in Christ who are sealed. And they have the earnest, the
guarantee of inheriting heaven's glory. Well, how about you? I pray that you too can identify
with these eternally blessed saints in Christ.