Okay, open your Bibles, if you
would, to Galatians chapter 3 and also Hebrews chapter 11. Galatians
chapter 3 and Hebrews chapter 11. The name of the message is,
If ye be Christ. If ye be Christ. What wonderful
words. If ye be Christ. My oh my. Wonderful, wonderful words. We'll
read this section first of all in Galatians chapter 3 and we'll
read from verses 24 to 29 as an introduction to the study
tonight. Then we'll head over to Hebrews chapter 11 and read
a portion of scripture there as well. Galatians chapter 3
verses 24 to 29. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. There's the lawful use of the
law, it's to bring us to Christ. That we might be what? Justified
by faith. And that's God-given faith, of
course. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under
a schoolmaster. Look at that. We're not under
the law if we're in Christ, because he fulfilled it all for us. It's
still there. It's honorable. It's magnificent.
But the believer's no longer under it. For ye are all the children of
God by faith in Christ Jesus. What a statement. And Holy Spirit
had Paul pen these words for comfort for our souls. It says,
if you're in Christ, you're children of God. That's wonderful. For as many of you as have been
baptized in the Christ have put on Christ, there's neither Jew
nor Greek. That means Jew or Gentile. There's
neither bond nor free. That means a slave or free. free
man. There is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. This is speaking of the
universal body of Christ, all the elect of all the ages. And
he's also writing to the Galatians here telling them that amongst
you may be former Jews and amongst you may be Gentiles. Well, we
know there's a lot of Gentiles because it was a Gentile church,
but there was Jews amongst them too. And he says, there's no,
neither Jew nor Greek in the body of Christ. You're all one
in Christ and neither male nor female. You're all one in Christ. Oh, what wonderful words. And in this magnificent verse,
in verse 29, and if ye be Christ, wonderful words right there,
if ye be Christ, then are ye, doesn't say you might be, it
says, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. My oh my, look at those wonderful
words, take note of those words, if ye be Christ. Now we're not
only Christ by creation, which is true of all humanity, right?
All humanity is Christ by creation. He's the creator. But God's people,
his elect, are the Father's gift to Christ. So we're also Christ
by choice of God the Father, And more so too, we are Christ
by the purchase of the shedding of his precious, precious blood,
his own blood. And we're his by the power of
God's grace as well. If ye be Christ, we're Christ's
people because of the power of his grace. And what does the
power of God's grace do? Well, it makes us willing in
the day of God's power to come to Christ. And we, Brother Zane,
have we willingly gave ourselves to Christ? Amen. We willingly gave Him, we surrendered
to Him. He's our all in all. He's everything
to us. And then we're Christ as a gift
from the Father. You feel like a gift? We don't feel like gifts, but
we are. We're gifts from God to Christ
Jesus our Lord. That's magnificent. And whether we feel it or not,
it's true. We were given to Christ by the
Father in eternity. My. And then our profession of Christ
falls a work of grace down in our hearts. See, we don't profess
Christ until a work of grace has been done in us, until we're
born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And then now we profess
Christ. He's our Lord, He's our Savior,
He's our Redeemer, He's our all in all. And we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, by His almighty power. My, it's
wonderful. so that God gets all the glory,
all the honor, and all the praise for the salvation of our souls. Our profession and proclaiming
of Christ again comes by an inward conversion, an operation of God,
Paul wrote in Colossians, an operation of God, whereby we're
born again. It's wonderful. Do we have anything to do with
that operation, beloved? Amen, Brother Zane. No. We're just
receivers. He's operating on us, isn't he?
We're like a dead corpse. And he emits life in us. Spiritual
life. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, born
again. We need heart surgery, don't
we? So what's he do? He gives us
a new heart, doesn't he? That hungers and thirsts after
righteousness. Oh, it's all, this mighty power is all done
by the power and might of God, the Holy Spirit. And now we have
Christ dwelling in our hearts. So marvel, we've been born again
by the Holy Spirit of God. And we are, we're Christ by God's
choice. I'll be honest, I still can't get over that. We're Christ
by God's choice. And we're, We're Christ by the
regenerating power of God, the Holy Spirit, born again by his
almighty power. And then our adoption is all
by God's choice. When you and Kathy adopted your
son, you chose to adopt him. Well, God chose to adopt us.
Isn't that wonderful, brother? Isn't that wonderful? That's incredible. And he did
it. all by his almighty sovereign
choice. And then, then, we're God's by
purchase. He purchased us with his precious,
precious blood. Sister Diane, he went to that
cross and he shed his precious blood for us and he died and
redeemed our eternal souls. So we're his by purchase, we're
his by blood. He ransomed our souls. He paid
everything God demanded for our souls. He satisfied God's law
and God's justice which had a rightful claim upon us. Now the Judaizers
taught that by becoming subjects of the Mosaic law and by yielding
to circumcision that the Gentile, the Galatian Gentiles would then
become the seed of Abraham. So what Paul writes here in this
text He asserts that this privilege comes only to one who's in Christ. In Romans chapter 4, Paul shows
that Abraham was what? Justified by faith. And was therefore
established as the spiritual father of all who put their faith
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Whether they are circumcised
or uncircumcised. God made salvation wholly dependent
upon Christ. And Christ alone. And all the
promises of God are yeamen in Christ, and they're ours, beloved.
Because the scripture, verse 29, if ye be Christ, then ye
are, there's no doubt, ye are, by God's choice, by God's power,
by God's ransoming our eternal souls, ye are Abraham's seed
and heirs according to the promise. And we say hallelujah. This is
magnificent. This is wondrous. And since believers have now
entered into a relationship with Christ, well, we must consequently
share in the same state as Abraham. The same promises that were for
Abraham are for us, beloved. And that's being brought forth.
And if ye be Christ, oh, if ye be Christ, ye be Christ, what
wonderful words. Then ye are Abraham's seed and
heirs according to the promise. Turn now, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. We'll turn there now. And we're going to read verses
8 to 10 here of Hebrews chapter 11. This is the Hall of Faith. And look what it says about Abraham
here in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 8 to 10. It also says about Isaac
and Jacob too. And consequently we are also
Children of the same promise. Look at this. Hebrews chapter
8. By faith, that's God given faith,
right? By faith, he's born again. He's
got faith now. By faith, Abraham, when he was
called to go out into a place, which he should after receive
for inheritance, obeyed. And he went out, not knowing
whether he went. He didn't know what was going
to come. He's just trusting God. God told him to go, he's gonna
go. By faith, he's sojourned in the land of promise, is in
a strange country. Do you know we're in a strange
country right now, brothers and? This world's a strange country. And we seek a better country.
We're gonna see that. Whose foundations and whose builder
and maker is God. By faith he sojourned in the
land of promises in the strange country, dwelling in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.
Now they dealt in tents, right? Tents aren't permanent. You move
a tent around, houses are permanent. You see, Abraham just dealt in
tents. Our Lord, he didn't even have
a house to go to, did he? Yet he owned everything. He says,
foxes have holes. I didn't know where to lay my
head. My oh my. And yet here he is,
the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Look at this. Dwelling in tabernacles with
Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. Look
at that, the same promise. Well, in our text, back there
in Galatians 2, 3, 29, it said, and if you be Christ, then you
are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. That's
the same promise, beloved. That's the same promise. Look
what it says here. For he looked for a city we called
heaven. The New Jerusalem. Whose which
hath foundations." Who's the foundation of that great city?
Who's the foundation of heaven? Christ. Amen, brother. Whose
builder and maker is God. Now Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
were heirs of the same promise as the land of Canaan was promised
to them. But they were also heirs and joint heirs with Christ. And they were men who were promised
to the Lord Jesus Christ, given to Christ by God the Father in
the everlasting covenant of grace, which was established by the
great majestic Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
in eternity. And we were given to Christ at
the same time. Therefore, we're heirs according to the promise
as well. My. And we see in the text there
that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were pilgrims and sojourners.
They dwelt in tents. They knew this world wasn't their
home. They knew that, just like we do. They knew the same thing
as we do. And actually, we know the same
thing as they knew. That's a better way to put it.
Because they knew it before we did. They knew this world wasn't their
home. They, oh my. Look at verse 9 and 10 again,
Hebrews 11. By faith, speaking of Abraham,
he sojourned in the land of promises in a strange country, dwelling
in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of
the same promise. For he looked for a city which
hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. He looked to
heaven, because who was in heaven? The Messiah. You know what his name is? The
Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Messiah. We trust the
Messiah. We trust God's Messiah. Just
like they trusted God's Messiah. We're trusting the same person
as Abraham, as Isaac, as Jacob, as Paul, as David, as Peter,
as John. As Moses, as Noah, we're trusting
the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this world wasn't their home, they looked for a city whose
foundations and whose builder and maker is God. Now these precious
truths set before us in Hebrews chapter 11 have reference to
all of God's children. All of God's children who are
born again and washed in the precious blood of Christ. We
know this world's not our home. We're just passing through, beloved.
We are. Our home is with the Lord. He's the head, right? And we're
the body. Does our head tell our body where
to go? Yep. And does our body go everywhere
the head tells it to go? Yep. So when I'm at home, my
head's there as well as my body, right? Yep. And Christ said,
where I go, you're going to be here soon. My, oh, my. Here's three points. All of us
are children of promise. All of God's elect are children
of promise, promised to Christ Jesus by God the Father in that
same eternal covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant. All
of God's elect are God's promised people. All of us, all the elect
of God, and there's some who this will happen to, Because
we know Christ hasn't gathered the last sheep in because it's
not all over yet, right? But there's sheep all over the
world, and his message is going out all over the world. He's
got preachers all over the world preaching the gospel. Now people
can download messages from all over. Soon they're going to come
out with global sermons and sermon audio that's going to take English,
what I preach here in English, and turn it into Russian. or
turning it into another language. Someone else hear it in their
own language. Isn't that amazing? It's absolutely incredible. My,
so all of God's elect have been enlightened by God the Holy Spirit.
And now we walk by faith. We don't walk by sight. We confess
that this world's not our home, just like Abraham did. We say,
this world's not our home. We're just pilgrims and sojourners
dwelling in tents. You know what I mean? I dwell
in a tent of clay right here. And one day they're going to
put this tent in the ground, and my soul is going to be gone
to glory, to be with the Lord forever. And so forever, every
single believer in Christ. We're just dwelling in tents
of clay, brother. That's all we are. My oh my. But we're on our way to eternal
glory. Amen, brother. We just got a few more weary
days to go, because again, our life is like a vapor. Just a
few more weary days to go. And then the third point is,
by God's grace, we've set our affection on things above now,
not on things in this world. We look to where our Lord sits
now. He sits in glory, doesn't he? He sits up in glory. Where
is he? He's at the right hand of God,
beloved. He's seated at the right hand of God. And what's he doing?
He's ruling and reigning in majesty and power. That's what he's doing. My. And we look, just like Abraham
and Isaac, don't we? We look for a city. whose foundations and builder
and maker is God. We, like a dear sister said to
me one time, this world, trials and tribulations wean us off
this world because we are looking for another city. We're foreigners
and strangers and pilgrims in this world, ambassadors for Christ. Strangers, brother. And the world's
ruined for us now. It's ruined for us. We can't
go back into the world. It's ruined for the believer.
Not that we'd want to, but it's ruined for us. Remember Gene
Harman saying that. God's grace ruins the world for
the believer. He can't go back without being
miserable. And God will just draw him right back out. We've
all been there, haven't we? Oh my. Now let's read a little
bit further down in Hebrews chapter 11 verses 17 to 19. Look at this. By faith Abraham when he was
tried, now this is when he was offering up his son, he's offering
up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son while our king offered up his only begotten son, didn't
he? And there was no ram caught in the thicket He was the lamb,
amen. He was the sacrifice, amen. He's the propitiation for our
sins, beloved. And it says, of whom it was said
that in Isaac thy seed shall be called, according that God
was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence he
received him in a figure. So Abraham was going there, he
was gonna slay his son, and he believed God would just raise
him up again. The angel of the Lord said, stop. Because that picture can only
go so far, can't it? It's just a picture. But you
know what? The swords of God's justice wasn't
stopped, was it? It plunged into our Savior. And
he received the unmitigated wrath of God poured out upon him for
the sins of all his elect. Oh my, and he bore it all. And he cried, it's finished,
it's finished, the work's finished! And we say hallelujah. What a
savior, redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. My, now consider verse 18 there,
it says, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed
be called. Now Abraham's biological seed
came through Isaac, as Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob,
and then God changed Jacob's name to Israel, and Israel had
12 sons. And each son grew in number and
become a tribe of their own people. And these are called the 12 tribes
of Israel. And the land of Canaan became
known as the land of Israel. But the 12 tribes of Israel has
reference to the 12 sons of Israel, who are also the 12 sons of Jacob. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. But keep in mind what we just
read in Hebrews 11, 18. I'm going to read it again. In
Isaac shall thy seed be called. Which, spiritually speaking,
has reference to all the children of God. who were promised to
the Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father way back before time
began. And Isaac, the son of God, promised
to Abraham, typifies the children of God, those who the Father
promised to Jesus Christ, his own son, God's own son, the Word
of God, the second person of the Trinity. And the Scripture's
not obscure on these points. It's a It's the responsibility
of God's ordained preachers to teach and preach these spiritual
truths. We have a responsibility to set
these before our hearers for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
and for his glory alone. And we who are the children of
God, we rejoice in the hearing that we are promised children
of God and that we're redeemed with Christ's own precious blood.
We rejoice in that. Now let's read here Romans chapter
9, starting in verse 1. Since I say the truth in Christ,
I lie not, my conscience also bearing witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have a great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I wish that myself were cursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. He is such a burden for
the Israelite people that he says this, look at these words,
I wish that myself were cursed from Christ for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. I'll tell you what, that's
a heart, that's a heart of a servant right there. That's a heart that
loves people. Saved and lost. Who are the Israelites
to whom pertain the adoption and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises?
Whose are the fathers and of whom is concerning the flesh
Christ came who is over all. God bless forever, amen. So Christ
went to the Jews first, didn't he? Not as though the word of God
had taken on effect, for they are not all Israel, which are
of Israel." Look at that. We're proof of that, beloved.
We Gentiles, who the Lord said, we're proof of that. We're the
Israel of God. You know, not all who came out
of Egypt, they weren't all the Israel of God. No. They died in the wilderness in
their sins. Yeah. How many of them went to the
Promised Land? Two. Along with all the children who
were now young men and young women. My, oh my. Look at this. who are the Israelites,
to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises,
whose are the fathers, of whom is concerning the flesh Christ
came, and who is over all. God bless forever, amen. And
in verse six, not as though the word of God had taken none effect,
for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Neither
because they, look at this, neither because they are the seed of
Abraham are they all children. See, salvation, doesn't come
for a Jew because he's born a Jew. Jew and Gentile has to be saved
the same way in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone.
There's no other hope for Jew or Gentile outside of Christ.
None. Absolutely none. That's what Paul's bringing forth
here. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these
are not the children of God. Well, in our natural state, even
though we are Christ, we look just like the children of the
flesh. We act just like the children of the flesh. But God's grace
goes before us. Do you know that? Even when we
were dead in sin, Brother Zane, God's grace was protecting us
and watching over us before we were even born. Amen. He had
ordained the day, the second we come into this world. And
He's ordained the second we're going to leave this world. And
He'll never stop watching over us the whole time. Oh, it's just
wonderful for God's people. That is, they which are the children
of flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of the
promise are counted for the seed. Well, what did we read in Galatians?
That if we're in Christ, then we're Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. This is wonderful. You see what
he said too, he said, there's no other Jew nor Gentile. Oh,
this is wonderful. This is so wonderful. For this
is the word of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also has conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. For the
children, being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of a hymn that calleth." Now look at this.
There are going to be two babies presented to us here. Two. One's Jacob and one's Esau. One's the children of the promise
and the other's the children of the flesh. Child of the flesh.
And notice what it says there in verse 11. What does that verse
tell us? That tells us that salvation is not based upon any works of
ours. Neither of these children had done any evil or good yet.
But God's already made a choice, you see, in eternity. He's already chosen the people.
It was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Oh my. And you know what the wonder
of that verse right there? You know what the wonder of verse
13 is? Not that God hated Esau, because we're all deserving that.
that he loved Jacob. Amen, brother. That's the wonder
of that verse. That's the absolute magnificent
part of this verse. Because we as God's people say,
why does he love me? I'm such a sinner. Well, because
he willed it. Because he chose to love us according
to his own purpose in mercy and grace from eternity. It's wonderful. Oh, it's wonderful. So the spiritual
truth concerning Isaac, typifying the children of God the Father,
promise to Jesus Christ is clearly set forth. Because if we go back
to our text in Galatians chapter 3 verses 28 and 29 says this,
there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female, for ye are one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, oh there
it is, if ye be Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. Praise be to God. Praise his
mighty name. And this spiritual truth concerning
Isaac, typifying the children of the Father, promised to Christ,
is clearly set forth in the scriptures. God the Holy Spirit moved Paul
to write to the Galatians, and these words apply to all of God's
saints in every generation. The term in Hebrews 11 is in
Isaac, shall thy seed be called. the same seed that Paul's talking
about in Galatians 3.29. It has reference to all of God's
promised children from every kindred, tongue, tribe, and nation. Ah, it's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. God chose the people in Christ
before the foundation of the world. There's only one blood-bought
church. And I don't mean denomination.
I mean the universal body of Christ. Now there's professors and there's
possessors. There's a lot of people who profess
Christ and then there's those who possess Christ. And that's
only by the grace and mercy of God. That's by absolutely nothing
they do. And they'll be the first ones
to tell you that. Saved by the grace and mercy of God. But we
see here that in Hebrews 11 18 that we must be called by God
himself. It says in Isaac shall thy seed
be called. Called. Jesus Christ our sovereign
Lord is the one who's building the church, his church. He's
the one person who sent the Holy Spirit of God who calls us out
of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. Oh my. We hear the shepherd's voice
through the preaching of the gospel, don't we? And through
the reading of his word. He calls us himself with an inward,
irresistible, effectual call. And every born again child of
God will rejoice in this glorious truth. Will rejoice in the gospel
of God's salvation. It's amazing grace, isn't it?
It gives all glory and honor and praise to our great God.
Turn again, if you would, to Galatians chapter three. Galatians
chapter three. We'll read verses 26 to 29 together. In verse 26, it says, for ye
are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Verse
27, for as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have
put on Christ, that's the operation of God right there, being regenerated. There's neither Jew nor Greek,
there's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female,
for you are one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ, there it
is, if ye be Christ. Brother Zane, if ye be Christ,
then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.
Now, further up in this chapter, just a little bit up, he'd been
talking about Sarah having a baby, the promised baby. Now, I ask
you this. She had reached the time when it was virtually humanly
impossible for her to have a child, wasn't it, Brother Zane? She'd
reached that point. Well, it was impossible for us
to be born again, wasn't it? By our own strength and by our
own power. or by a supposed decision we
made. My oh my. Amen. And that baby that Sarah had
was a promise of God by the mighty working miracle power of God.
We're born again by the miracle power of God, aren't we? My oh
my. What did I ask you this? Here's
some questions for us to ponder. What did Isaac contribute to
his physical birth? Nothing at all, right? What do
we contribute to our... You already got the answer, brother. What do we contribute to our
being born again by the Holy Spirit, by our second birth?
Amen. Nothing, brother. Nothing, it's
true. Nothing. I ask you this, what
did Isaac contribute to his spiritual birth? Because he was born again
too, just like we are. Nothing. Just like us. Nothing. Again, what did we have to do
with our spiritual birth? Nothing. It's an operation of
God, isn't it? You see, this decisionalism has
replaced in the world, and it's so unfortunate we don't know
the damage that it's done this side of eternity. It's replaced
Holy Spirit regeneration. I was talking to someone the
other day, and I said, you know, when you're talking to someone
about Christ, you just leave them alone. Don't try to get
them to pray a prayer, but warn them warn them that today is
the day of salvation, but leave it in the Lord's hands. You know
what they said to me? Well, that sounds like a really
good idea. Yep, it is. Because salvation's in the Lord,
right? I'll tell you what. I used to
be a salesman. You can talk people into stuff.
And these false preachers talking people into a supposed salvation
and giving them comfort when they're still dead in their trespasses
and sins, they're just talking them into making a profession.
Like I said, I used to be a salesman. I was good at it. You can talk
people into stuff, but you shouldn't. You shouldn't. You present. And you, yep, it's the Holy Spirit
that's got to do the work. Leave it in the hands. He's promised
us his word won't come back void. He's promised us that. My oh
my. Okay, here's three points we're
gonna look at quick. Under the subject, if ye be Christ.
Number one is, if ye be Christ, then you are a promised child
of God. You're a promised child of God.
Number two, if ye be Christ, you are a purchased child of
God. And both of those are for Christ's sake. We're a promised
child of God for Christ's sake. We're a purchased child of God
for Christ's sake. And then also, if ye be Christ,
you are a protected and produced child of God for Christ's sake.
Because we can't produce that new birth, can we? It's an operation
of God, you see. He's got to do the work. Okay,
first one. First one. Turn, if you would, to Titus.
Titus chapter 1. We're going to go three different
places here. Titus chapter 1, 1 Peter chapter
1, and then the book of Ephesians chapter 1. My, oh my. So the first having
is if ye be Christ and you are promised children, You are a
promised child for Christ's sake. Look at this. Titus chapter 1. Remember this. If ye be Christ,
you are a promised child for Christ's sake. Start in verses
1 and go into verse 4. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect.
See, God's elect, we all have the same faith. It's God-given
faith, has one object, is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it trusts
and rests in him. In acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness, we acknowledge the truth of the
scriptures, we bow to the truth of the scriptures. Look at this,
in hope of eternal life, who's our hope of eternal life, brothers
and? Amen, Christ Jesus. Look at this, which God that
cannot lie, now here's the promise. Remember our text said that we're
heirs of the promise? Here's a promise right here.
Promise before the world began. My, oh my, isn't that wonderful? But hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Savior. To Titus, my own son
after the common faith, grace, Grace comes first, right? Always. Mercy comes from God. And peace. Peace with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. From God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior. That's what He is. He's our Savior.
So rejoice, beloved Christ, if you're Christ, then you're a
promised child of God for Christ's sake. Do we believe? Do we believe that? What God
has promised? Do we believe that what God's
promised He's able to perform? Oh, God give us grace. Yeah,
He is. He is, He's God, He can do whatever
He pleases. My. Now let's turn to, and we'll
consider, If you're Christ, you're a purchased child for Christ's
sake. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter.
1 Peter. Brethren, God's elect, God's
elect, are a purchased possession. We are a purchased possession.
We're not our own. We're bought with a price, and
that price is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on
Calvary's cross in our ruined place and purchased and ransomed
our eternal souls with his precious blood. And Jesus Christ purchased all
his promised children with his blood. All of them. The price
has been paid. Why? Well, because we sinned
in Adam. We fell in Adam, didn't we? We
fell in our father Adam. He fell, we fell with him. And He came into this world,
Christ came into this world to save we, we who are born slaves
to sin, slaves to Satan in this world. We come into slaves in
bondage, dead in trespasses and sins. And He came to free us
by the redemption of His precious, precious blood. My, oh my. We're rescued from this world.
We're rescued from Satan. We're rescued from our sins more
so than anything. We're rescued from the darkness
that we were in. We had to be rescued from that
condition, didn't we? We couldn't bring ourselves into
the light. We couldn't save ourselves. We
couldn't regenerate ourselves. We were graveyard dead, beloved. That's what we were. My, oh my. And the ransom price is
being paid in full. Paid in full. Stamped with the
blood of Christ. Paid in full. My. And he paid it all. He offered
himself up as a ransom for our souls, beloved. We had to be rescued from our
lost condition and he rescued us. And who did He make the payment
to? Who did Christ make the payment
to? God the Father. Amen, brother. The one we sinned
against. Now think of this. We sinned
against the Father, willingly, to our shame. And He loves us
so much with an eternal love that He actually sent His Son.
Well, we were enemies in our minds by wicked works. He sent
his son 2,000 years ago before we were even born to redeem us, to ransom our souls. We had no
clue when we were born into this world. God had to show us and
reveal to us Christ, and he does it. Oh, he does it by his grace
and his mercy and by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, and
the operation of God. So he made a payment to God the
Father. When did he make that ransom
payment? 2,000 years ago at Calvary's
Cross. Who did he make the payment for?
All the elect of all the ages. He shall save his people from
their sins. And praise be to God he's done
it. And what did he use to ransom us? What did he use to ransom
us, beloved? Oh, his precious, precious blood.
Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission for sin.
So Christ sheds his blood as a ransom for our souls. And God's
absolutely satisfied with that ransom. Oh, my. And let's read in 1 Peter here.
We're going to see here. We're gonna see here if you're
Christ and you're a purchased child for Christ's sake, all
for his sake. See, God does this all for Christ's
sake. We're just the recipients of this marvelous grace. We're
saved, Ephesians says, for Christ's sake. My, it's just so wonderful. Look at this in 1 Peter 1, verses
18 to 21. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers,
see, no amount of money, no amount of money in this world can save
a soul, not one. No amount, you could have all,
I'm telling you, you could have all the gold stacked up a mountain
high. You could have all the silver stacked up a mountain
high. And it wouldn't pay the price for one soul, not one. Not one sin, even. No. No. We sinned against the eternal
God. Therefore, the ransom must be a perfect ransom. The lamb
must be a perfect lamb. And he must give his life for
us. He must shed his blood for us, beloved. Look at this. It
says, but what are we bought with? What are we purchased with?
It says there in that verse 18, for you know that you're not
redeemed with corruptible things. Well, what are we redeemed with? Oh,
look at this. But with the precious blood of
Christ, verse 19, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
perfect, the perfect spotless lamb of God, who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for, who? Who's Paul writing to? He's writing
to believers. He's writing to the elect. My,
this is true for us right now tonight, too. Who by Him? How do we believe?
Well, we believe because God gave us faith to believe, right?
Who by Him do believe in God that raised Him up from the dead
and gave Him glory? That's your faith and your hope
by being God and God alone. A lot of people in this world,
they're hoping in their own works. They're hoping in themselves.
That's a false hope. That's a refuge of lies, as Brother
Henry Mahan said. And all you're going to do is
damn your soul if you're trusting in your own works. See, God only
accepts this ransom, this sacrifice, in His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And when you're born again, our hope and our faith
is in God, in God alone. That's the Lord Jesus Christ,
God incarnate in the flesh. And we say praise His mighty
name. Praise His mighty name. Now lastly, let's turn to Ephesians
chapter 1. And we're going to look at the
closing point here. This is the third point I mentioned.
If ye be Christ and you are protected, you are a protected and produced
child for Christ's sake. Now God's grace goes before the
believer, even when we're dead in trespasses and sins. God's
grace goes before us because we're his children by choice,
by God's choice, from before the foundation of the world.
Therefore, we're protected by God. And God the Holy Spirit,
God the Holy Spirit does an operation upon us and we're produced. We're
produced. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. My, delivered from the spiritual
bondage that we were in. Do you know we couldn't die until
we're born again? We couldn't die until we're born
again. No. We're ordained to be born again.
Yeah, oh yeah, we tried. We tried on our own, didn't we?
Yeah? We did things that But we were protected. I can count
on my hand five or six times that I should have died before
the Lord saved me. My, oh, my. But this is the amazing
thing. We're protected by God. Now,
it doesn't give us a license to go out there and go, well,
I'm going to jump off a building then and God, no, no, no. Remember what Christ said? We
won't tempt, we won't tempt our God. Satan took him to the highest
point. He said, jump off, the angels
will protect you. He said, he quoted God's word, you know,
won't tempt the Lord, won't tempt the Father. No, we're not to
do that. But we cannot die until God the
Holy Spirit quickens us and we're born again and enlightened to
the wonderful truths of the gospel, of God's grace in Christ alone.
God predestinated us to be his children. He predestined us to
be adopted by him. He chose us. You're mine, Zane. You're mine, Wayne. You're mine,
Diane. You're mine, Vicki. You're mine,
Dave. You're mine, Brian. You're mine,
Marcus. You're mine, Michelle. You're
mine, Travis. You're mine, Karen. Isn't that
wonderful? You're mine! I sent my son to die for your
sins, he says, because you're mine. You're mine. Always. And always have been. So he predestinates us unto the
adoption as sons. He ordained his promised children
unto eternal life. God did this. He ordained that
we would believe the gospel of God's grace through Christ alone. Here's some questions. Here's
some questions for us to ponder before we look at Ephesians chapter
one. Here's some questions. Do I believe that I was promised
to Jesus Christ by God the Father before the world was created?
My God's people say yes. That's what the scripture says.
Do I believe that Jesus Christ ransomed me with his own precious
blood when he suffered and bled on Calvary's cross 2,000 years
ago? Well, by faith, I say yes. By God-given faith, by the grace
of God, we say yes, yes, this is wonderful, yes. He did it. Do I believe that what God's
promised, he's able to perform? By the grace of God, yes. Yes,
I believe that. Now, do I go like this sometimes
in life? Of course we do. But we believe
God, don't we? We trust and rest in Him. Oh, do I believe God? Is my faith
based upon the strongest evidence that can possibly be given to
any hell-deserving sinner, this Word? The Bible? The word of God? Do I believe
that this book is God's inspired word? Yes. By grace and by faith,
I believe. And it's a hymn book, isn't it?
H-I-M. It speaks all about Christ. Do
I believe that God the Holy Spirit has revealed Christ Jesus, our
Lord, and his gospel to me? By faith, I believe. By God-given
faith. And beloved, if God the Holy
Spirit has regenerated us, we're born again, enlightened our minds,
then as Isaac, we are the children of promise. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful. Let's read
Ephesians chapter 1 here. And we'll see that we are, if
we're Christ, then we're protected and produced child of God for
Christ's sake. Ephesians 1 verses 11 to 14,
in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. So it's according to God's purpose
that we'd be born again. 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." Look at that, we heard
the gospel preached, eh? The gospel of your salvation! Oh
my! in whom also after that she believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now that sealed
there means to be marked. That's why I always tell you,
people get all worked up in this Mark of the Beast. I'm already
marked by God. And so is every one of God's
people. We're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Isn't
that wonderful? That's absolutely wonderful.
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of his glory. So think of this,
beloved God, God can't lie. And knowing that to be true,
we can stand upon the promises of God, which are all yea and
amen in Christ. We can stand in them in Christ,
because God don't lie. And let us praise the one who
loved us and gave himself for us. And all praise to the one
who ransomed us with his precious, precious blood, that's the Lord
Jesus Christ in both cases. And let us give God the Father
and the Holy Spirit and the Son all glory and honor and praise
for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our risen and
our exalted Savior. And what do we say? Amen and
amen. Brother Zane, can you close us
in prayer?