The message this morning, the
title of it is Eternal Grace. And we'll be looking at Ephesians
chapter 1, verses 3 through 6. This will be our focus. So let's
read Ephesians 1, starting with 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
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. I want to show you from the word of God that God's
grace in all its fullness and blessedness is eternal. and that
was bestowed upon chosen sinners in Christ before the worlds were
even made. God the Holy Ghost declares in
Hebrews 4.3 regarding the everlasting salvation of our souls, that
the works were finished before the foundation of the world.
So our salvation is guaranteed from the very beginning, before
the world was even formed. It did not just happen right
at the cross, but we've been God's children from the very
beginning. God, the Holy Ghost, declares
in Hebrews 4-3, regarding the everlasting salvation of our
souls, that the works were finished before the foundation of the
world. Then the fact that God's work of grace for us were finished
in eternity. The fact that our salvation was
eternally accomplished by our triune God is stated with complete
clarity three different times in the New Testament. In 2 Timothy
1, verses 9 and 10, God hath saved us and called us with a
holy calling. not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. So our salvation was there
well before the world was even created, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. And then the second reference
is in Romans 8, verses 28 through 30. And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that
he might be the firstborn, among many brethren. Moreover, whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. And the third declaration is
in our text there in Ephesians. And there it tells us that, who
hath blessed us? It was Christ. He blessed us
with all spiritual blessings. And he chose us. We did not choose
him, but he chose us. When? Before the foundation of
the world. We should be holy, be without blame. He predestinated
us. He adopted us as his children,
which is mind-boggling in itself that we are considered to be
the children of Christ. His good pleasure and His will,
not man's will, but His will, and He made us accepted and beloved.
We can't make ourselves accepted. It tells us all this in just
four verses. If we understand that, we have
a greater understanding of the gospel, of what Christ done for
us, than the vast majority of the people in the world. In those
four verses, it just ties it up in one neat bow. I have nine
things to go over on these few verses, and the first one is
sovereign election. The first work of grace Paul
mentions here is the sovereign election of his people in Christ.
According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, our eternal election in Christ is the source and cause
of all other benefits and blessings of grace. Apart from election,
there are no blessings of grace. We have to be elected first,
and we were elected. But for the elect, all the blessings
of grace and glory are sure. All God's blessings of grace
and glory are given to chosen sinners according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Adoption, acceptance
with God, redemption, forgiveness, regeneration, Preservation, resurrection,
and the heavenly glory of the inheritance awaits us. All of
these things are assured to all the elect according to the election
of grace. All the chosen shall obtain all
of these things. according to the purpose of God.
Do you see this? Preachers everywhere talk about
the fact that Christ came into the world, but so many of them
do not truly understand of who he is or why he came. Very few realize that the cause
of his coming here to live and die for chosen sinners is to
be found in God's electing love, and his sovereign purpose of
grace. The Son of God came here to save his people, not the world,
as a lot of people like to think, but the people chosen by him, but the people chosen by and
given to him by God the Father from their sins. In Matthew 121,
and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call him that
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins." And there's that word that Wayne has been referring
to here lately, shall. It doesn't mean, it does not
say it may or it might or it could or maybe or sometimes,
but it said shall. All those other words leave room
for something that may or may not happen, but shall leaves
no doubt, for he shall save his people from their sins. That
leaves zero doubt about what Christ would do when he went
to the cross. The promise here given is that the Lord Jesus
Christ shall save his people from their sins. Who are his
people though? Who are these people specifically
designated as his people whom he called into this world specifically
to save? Obviously his people were his
people long before he came here to save us or before he came
to the cross. The angel said to Joseph, he
shall save his people from their sins. He did not say he shall
save those who shall be his people because we are already chosen
before the foundation of the world. Whoever His people are,
they were His people before He saved them. They were His people
before He came here to save them. They were His people from eternity.
That's in Psalms 110 verse 3. Almost every Everyone presumes
that Christ came here to save everybody, and that's just not
the case. Lost preachers everywhere love
to use phrases or tell their congregation that God loves you,
God died for you, God believes in you, The Lord wants to save
you, and one of my things that I hear, let Jesus into your heart. Well, if you have to let Jesus
into your heart, is he really God? If you have to let him in,
it means that you're more powerful than what he is, and that's just
not the case. That's not what we read in Matthew 121. That
is not the doctrine of the Holy Scripture. If Christ came to
save everyone in the world, if he died for everyone, where's
the love of God? If Christ died for all, and yet
some perish under the wrath of God, the justice of God falls
short, for he would be punishing both the sinner and the son,
and that means that he would have changed. Christ died to
save his chosen people from their sins. If he gave his son to die
for all because of his great love for them, and then sends
many to hell, then some of his love has changed to wrath, and
God does not change. If he tries to save people and
he fails to save them, he cannot be God. God does not fail. Man fails all the time, but God
does not. He says he's doing something, he is doing it. There's
no doubt about that. What does the word of God say?
That alone is our standard. If a man does not speak according
to the word of the Bible, it is because he does not understand
it. and it has not been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. To
teach that Christ came to save those who are lost in hell as
well as those who are saved is to deny the very purpose of Christ. He is not and cannot be God if
he fails to do what he came to do. He would not be our Savior. If the people he loves now can
become the objects of his wrath later, the blood of Christ did
not fully satisfy the justice of God, and we know that the
blood satisfied 100% of everything, just not the way it works. There
was a commercial years ago from Ivory Soap that it was 99.44%
pure. Well, that's just not good enough. Christ completed everything,
100%. There is no exceptions to that. It's 100%. The Lord
Jesus Christ did not come to save everyone. He came to save
his people that were all over the world, his distinct but peculiar
chosen people. And who are his people? They
are his seed, his sheep, his chosen broad, his elect, all
who trust him. They are those people whom God
the Father chose in Christ before the world began, whom he loved
with everlasting love, whom he predestinated unto the adoption
of sons from eternity by Jesus Christ to himself, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, according to the good pleasure of his own
will, Romans 8, 28, 31. In short, he chose us. We did
not choose him. And he'd done this all before
the foundation of the world, to be holy and to be without
blame. Doesn't matter what we do. In God's eyes, we are still
holy. He predestinated us. He chose
us before. the world even started. And Jesus adopted us as his children
to himself. And again, this was before the
world was started. It is the good pleasure of his
will, not man's will. To the glory of his grace, he
made us accepted in the beloved. Next is in Christ. In our Scripture here, according as
he hath chosen us in him. We were chosen in Christ. Election,
like all other blessings of grace, is in him. Ephesians 2.10 tells
us, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. What blessings we have that flows
down from the throne to chosen sinners through his son, Jesus. Before he gave the mountains
birth or laid foundations of the earth, we were already chosen
in Christ. Thus eternal love began to raise
us up from death and sin to be in Christ. We were then decreed
blameless in love, a holy seed, predestined to be his sons, born
by degree but chosen at once. We were chosen, like I say, before
the world was created, a new regenerated race to praise the
glory of His grace. With Christ our Lord, we share
our part in the affections of His heart. The Son of God, as
our mediator and surety, stood before the Father as the head
and the husband of His church from everlasting. We were chosen
of God as his broad, a help meet for him. It was not good in the
father's sight that God man should be alone. That's in Genesis 2.18. Therefore, he chose the church
as a broad for his darling son to be his companion to whom he
might impart all grace, hear all glory herein. All this was
done for the glory of Christ, that we would be the that he
would be the head of all things to the church, which is his body
and the fullness of him that fulfill all things. So his chosen
people are the body of Christ. He's the head of the church,
we are the body of the church. Next up is the time. Look at
Ephesians 1-4 again. Holy Scripture tells us that
the time of our election was before the foundation of the
world. The gospel of Christ is the revelation of things which
have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. That's
in Matthew 13, 35. Election was done in eternity. Our names were written in the
Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world. Our
names are not written in the book of life when we do something
good. You know, God doesn't set up
there and say, we look down, oh, he's a pretty good guy. We'll
put his name in the book of life. Our name was there, written at
the beginning of time. Christ is the Lamb of God, slain
from the foundation of the world. 1 Peter 1.20, the kingdom prepared
us which we shall receive in the world to come was prepared
for us from the foundation of the world. So all this was taken
care of, not just at the cross, but our name, we've been there
from the very beginning. Indeed, all God's works for us
were finished from the foundation of the world. As John Gill stated,
no new will or act of will can arise in God or any decree be
made by him, which was not from eternity. All these things plainly
tell us that the election of our souls was a free, unconditional
act of God's sovereign love. Jeremiah 31, 3, the Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And then in Romans 9, 13 through
16, As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So that it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. We rejoice to hear our Savior
say, he have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I ordained
you. All we can say to that is amen,
and praising for choosing us. Like I say, we did not choose
him. I've got a poem here that states
some of this stuff. "'Tis not that I did choose thee
for the Lord that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee hadst thou not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me hast cleansed and set me free. Of that thou hast ordained me
that I should live to thee. Twas sovereign mercy called me
and taught my opening mind the world had else enthralled me
to heavenly glories blind. My heart owes none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst, this knowing if I love thee that
thou must have loved me first." Next section is Holy and Blameless. God chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him. God chose us in Christ, was for
this purpose, that we should be holy and without blame before
him. I will try to give a brief exclamation of these words to
the full meaning. Understand this, that God has
always viewed his people as perfectly holy, didn't matter at what stage
of our lives or what sin we may have created. God himself always
sees us as perfectly holy, altogether without blame, because he sees
us in Christ. He does not see us individually,
he sees us in Christ himself. This is the only view our father
has of us, the only view he has ever had of us, the only view
he shall ever have of us, and the only view he constantly has
of us. He sees us in Christ, holy and without blame, justified
and glorified in him, and in Christ there can be no change. Yes, when we sinned and fell
in our father Adam, we became polluted just like other people.
And we were born with Adam's fall, depraved, corrupt nature,
just like all other people. But that which we experience
in time in this present state does not and cannot in any way
alter what God did for us in eternity. Our fall in Adam did
not and could not destroy the holiness or blamelessness that
was given to us in Christ in eternity. Yet that which was
done in eternity must be accomplished in time. We were chosen in eternity
and are holy and without blame in Christ. But by this, his one
offering of himself, Christ redeemed us from all iniquity and perfected
forever them that are sanctified. In the new birth, the Holy Spirit
puts a new righteous holiness and unblameable nature in the
chosen redeemed sinners. imparting to us the righteousness,
sinless nature of Christ, Christ in you, the hope of glory, partakers
of the divine nature, and Paul calls us this new nature, the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
That's in Ephesians 4.24. John says, this new man was born
of God, is his seed. He is born of God. Christ in
you can no more do evil than Christ incarnate could do evil
on this earth, because as he is, so are we in this world.
That's in 1 John 3 9. When in the resurrection we were
finally brought home to glory by Christ, we will still be found
in him, holy and without blame. before God, and our all-glorious
Savior will present us to himself a glorious church, not having
a spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish
before the triune God. Ephesians 2, chapter 2, verse
7, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.
Chapter 5, verses 25 and 27. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church, and give himself for it, that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. In Jude, first chapter, verses
24 and 25, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy, to the only was God our savior. Be glory
and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Next section
is in love. The chapter breaks in the Bible
were laid out by man, so the commas and the verse breaks and
all, sometimes are right and sometimes
are wrong, but sometimes it can go either way. This is true in
verse four, in the last two words there, in love. It could be read
either way, so let's read it both ways. 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." And that's very
much true. And it could also be read as,
in love, having predestinated us onto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his work.
So you can see that that two words could go on either verse. They both mean that we are. in the love of Christ. In love,
the Father chose us. In love, he blessed us in Christ. In love, he beholds us, holy
and without blame before him. In love, he predestinated us
onto the adoption of children. In love, he accepted and accepts
us. Oh, my soul, bless God the Father
for that love that has For that love he has for me and has had
for me from everlasting and shall have for me forevermore. That
great, infinite, immutable, eternal gift which is the source and
fountain of all grace and salvation in Christ. Can you grasp this?
The God of glory loves his people in Christ. He loves us because
of Christ and he loves us as he loves Christ because we are
one with Christ. Our Savior's purpose in all this,
in all his work, and that for which he prayed as our great
high priest in John 17, is that we might be one in him, with
him. He declares that the glory he
has as our mediator, he has given to us, that we may be one even
as he and the Father are one. and all his great boundless grace
is to that end, that they may be made perfect in one, and that
the world may know that thou hast loved them as thou hast
loved me, for thou lovest me from the foundation of the world.
Next topic is divine predestination. In verse five, the apostle continues
giving us reasons to bless, praise, honor, extol, and adore our Heavenly
Father. Here the reasons he gives is
his great gracious external work of love called predestination.
In loving in love, having predestinated us onto the adoption of children
by Christ Jesus to himself according to the good pleasure of his will."
Again, that's his will, not man's will or our will. This is the
Bible doctrine of predestination. I give it to you in the very
language of the Holy Scripture in in love having predestinated
us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. Here the Holy Spirit tells us
that God has predestinated us to that which he else calls the
glorious liberty of children of God. It's Romans 8.21. Our father adopted us and named
us as his children in eternal election before the foundation
before the world was made, 1 John 3, verse 1. Because we were adopted in eternity,
he sent the spirit of his son into our hearts in regeneration,
giving us the nature of his son. And he will soon bring us unto
himself as his children in the final phase of our adoption,
when we shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into
the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8 verses 15 through
21, for ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to
fear, but ye have received the spirit of the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father, the spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children
then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so
be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the suffering
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation
of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. Chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Behold,
what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we
should be called the sons of God. Therefore, the world knoweth
us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God, and it doeth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Next up is to himself. Look at
verse five again. Our God and Father has predestinated
us unto the adoption of children in Jesus Christ to himself. To
himself, those are precious words. To himself, not merely to happiness,
to blessings in time or blessings in eternity, not to all the creation
of God, with all the whole world can supply to himself. What wondrous
grace is contained in those words. Our God and Heavenly Father,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has predestinated
us onto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ onto himself
according to the good pleasure of his will. Psalms 4.3 says,
but know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. The Lord will hear when I call
unto them. In Psalms 135, 4, for the Lord
hath chosen Jacob unto himself and Israel for his peculiar treasure. In Isaiah it says 43, Chapter
43, verse 21, this people have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my praise. Next up is his good pleasure. All this he has done, Paul tells
us at the end of chapter five, according to the good pleasure
of his will. We were not blessed according to our will, but according
to the good pleasure of his will. We were not chosen according
to our will, but according to the good pleasure of his will.
We were not adopted according to our will, but according to
the good pleasure of his will. We were not predestinated according
to our will, but according to the good pleasure of his will.
We were not accepted according to our will, but according to
the good pleasure of his will. Our Savior's delight were with
us from everlasting, and it was our Father's good pleasure from
everlasting to save us. Might we pray continually, do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem. In all things God performs, his
good pleasure in my heart says, let him do his pleasure. Chapter
two, verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you, both to
will and to do of his good pleasure. Thessalonians, second Thessalonians,
chapter one, verses 11 and 12, wherefore also we pray always
for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and
fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work
of faith with power. that the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ may be glorified in you and ye in him according to the
grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 12, 32,
fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. Glorious grace. Lord our God
ought to be blessed by us because he has eternally blessed us in
election, in predestination, in adoption, and we read in verse
six that he has done all this to the praise of the glory of
his grace. The purpose of God in the salvation
of the poor, doomed, damned, hell-bent, hell-deserving sinners
is that we should be to the praise of the glory of his grace. There are other divine attributes
in salvation of sinners by Christ. The wisdom of God devised the
plan of redemption. The power of God accomplishes
the work of regeneration. Immutability, I had to look that
word up, and that means that God doesn't change, has never
changed, and will never change. So immutability means that God
never changes. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. The immutability of God is the security of our
souls. In fact, all the attributes of the triune God are gloriously
displayed in the salvation of sinners. But grace is the fountainhead
of salvation. Grace is conspicuous throughout
the whole Bible. Grace is to be seen in our election. There is a remnant according
to the elect of grace. Grace is evident in our redemption.
We have been justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ. Grace is the basis of our calling. God hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world, certainly All who are
born of God know that we are justified, pardoned, adopted,
accepted, blessed of God according to the riches of his grace towards
us through Jesus Christ. I see a golden thread of grace
running through the whole of the believer's history from this
election. before all worlds to his admission
into eternal glory in heaven. All along the way, grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life. There is no point in the
history of a saved soul upon which man can put his finger
and say, I did that. This part of my salvation is
my own work. I have this by my own merit. Every blessing we receive from
God in time and eternity comes to us through the channels of
free and sovereign grace. We cannot do anything ourselves.
We cannot claim any part of our salvation. It is all of God.
Christ said on the cross, it is finished, and it's a finished
work. Grace is the finished work of Christ alone without any help
from us. Boasting, excluded, prod, eye,
base, I am only a sinner saved by grace. Boasting is excluded
because all human merit is excluded. In the vocabulary of God's church,
merit is an unknown word. It should be banished from our
speech forever. Our only shortcoming over the
foundation stone and the top stone are grace, grace onto it. The salvation of our souls is
the glory of his grace. Grace quickens the dead, enlightens
the blind, makes the dumb shout and sing for joy. Grace pardons
the guilty. Grace justifies the ungodly.
Grace brings prisoners out of their prison house and sets the
captive free. Grace communicates divine holiness
to unholy sinners. Grace raises the poor out of
the dust and the beggar out of the dunghill and sets them among
princes, even the princes of God's people. Grace gives immortality
dignity to the most degraded. Grace strengthens the weak. confirms the feeble and upholds
the faint. Grace preserves the tempered,
revives the lame. languishing and restores the
fallen. Grace brings poor, vile worms
into communication with God the Father, God the Son, and God
the Holy Spirit. Grace brings countless millions
of once poor, wretched sinners to glory and makes them more
glorious than the holy angels and all to the praise of the
glory of His grace. not only to the praise of his
grace, but to the praise of the glory of his grace. It is as
if Paul is telling us that God's glory is made more glorious in
the manifestation of the riches of his grace in Christ. And to
crown the whole And to crown the whole, all these unspeakable
gifts of God and Father are the result of his own everlasting
love and his own free and sovereign grace given us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. In its planning, in its purchase,
in its performance, in its preservation, And in its perfection, our salvation
is to the praise of the glory of his grace. Therefore, we bless
God forever, saying, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but
unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. Psalms 115, verse 1. And the
last section is accepted. Now look at the last line of
verse 6, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In
his great, boundless, infinite, free, eternal grace, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father,
hath made us accepted in the Beloved. What a climax this is
to the Father's eternal works of grace. First, chosen in Christ,
second, predestinated to the glory in Christ, and third, accepted
in Christ as eternally one with him and everlastingly united
to him and considered one with him forever. What unspeakable
blessedness those words convey. He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Remember Paul. has not yet mentioned
the glorious work of God the Son or God the Holy Spirit. He
has not yet spoken of our redemption by Christ or our being called
by the Spirit. Our acceptance is here spoken
as of something done before redemption was needed. Our redemption was at the beginning before the world
was created. We were accepted as a holy people in Christ before
we become unholy by Adam's transgression. So we were holy before any sin
even entered into the world when Adams fell. We were accepted
as justified from sin before sin was committed. Being accepted
in Christ, we were made the sons of God before we were made the
sons of Adam. We were accepted as a redeemed
people in Christ before redemption became necessary. In verse seven,
Paul speaks of redemption as something we now have, in whom
we have redemption through his blood. But he declares our acceptance
by grace in the middle of it is spoken as a thing accomplished
by our Heavenly Father before the world was made. Now hear
this and go to your home's blessing, the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ. When God the Holy Spirit here
declares that all who come to trust Christ in time were accepted
in Christ before the world was made, this is what he's telling
us. We are eternally one with Christ, in him as the members
are in the body, united to him as the head is united to the
body, eternally and everlastingly inseparable from Christ. God,
our Father, always sees us in Christ, only in Christ. The God of glory, our Heavenly
Father, embraces us and looks upon us in Christ with immutability,
external complacency, delight, and satisfaction. No fact is
more constantly spoken of in the New Testament, and none is
more comforting than the fact that our union with Christ The
Church of God is so really united with her head that she is positively
one with him. We are the broad, and Christ
is the broad groom. We are the branches, and he is
the vine. We are the body, and he the glorious
head. Every individual believer is
thus united to the one with Christ, as Levi was in the loins of Abraham
when Melchizedek met him. So was every believer chosen
in Christ and blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in him before the world was made. worlds were made. We have been spared, protected,
converted, justified, and accepted solely and entirely by the virtue
of our eternal union with Christ. The soul can never obtain peace
until, like Ruth, she finds rest in the house of her kinsman,
who becomes her husband, Jesus the Lord. Joseph Irons once said,
I am as sure as I am of my own existence that wherever God,
the Holy Spirit, awakens the poor sinner by his mighty grace
and imparts spiritual life in his heart, nothing will ever
satisfy that poor sinner but a believing assurance of eternal
union with Christ. Unless the soul obtains a sweet
and satisfactory consciousness of it in the exercise of a living
faith, it will never enter into the rest this side of eternity. Nothing in this side of heaven
can be more blessed than the confidence of our oneness with
Christ. Spurgeon said, to know and feel
that our interests are mutual, our bonds indissolvable, and
our loves united is indeed to dip our morsels in the golden
dish of heaven. We are eternally and unalterably
one with Christ, justified in his glorious righteousness, holy
in his spotless holiness, perfect in his perfection, and lovely
in his loveliness, in whom we have redemption through his blood
the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. That's
Ephesians 1, 7. That is grace, free grace, eternal
grace. That is the grace of the God,
our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is eternal grace.