pt1 Ephesians

Q: What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith, which is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). Ephesians 2:8 emphasizes that our salvation is entirely by grace, not based on our own works or merits. This foundational truth highlights the unmerited favor that God extends to us through faith. It is a reminder that salvation is initiated and accomplished by God alone, ensuring that no one can boast about their own achievements in securing their salvation. This perspective fosters humility and gratitude among believers, acknowledging that we are wholly dependent on God's grace for our redemption.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of predestination is true?

Scripture, particularly Ephesians 1:4-5, supports the doctrine of predestination by illustrating that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. The doctrine of predestination is woven throughout Scripture, most clearly articulated in Ephesians 1:4-5, which asserts that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless. This concept affirms God's eternal plan in salvation, indicating that our faith and acceptance are rooted in His sovereign choice rather than our actions. Understanding predestination encourages believers to rest in God's perfect plan and sovereignty, realizing that our salvation is secure because it originates from God's will, not our own efforts.

Q: Why is the message of grace important for Christians?

The message of grace is vital as it reassures Christians that their salvation is secure and rooted in God's unmerited favor. The message of grace is crucial for Christians as it emphasizes the unconditional love and acceptance of God towards His people. It reassures us that our worthiness before God is not based on our actions but solely on what Christ has accomplished on our behalf. Understanding grace leads to a transformed life characterized by gratitude, worship, and a desire to serve others. It also provides comfort during struggles, reminding believers that they are sustained by grace regardless of their circumstances or shortcomings, thus fostering a deeper relationship with God through faith.

If you want to turn in your Bibles to the Psalms, we're going to read Psalm number five. We'll read the first eight verses of Psalm number five tonight. And while you're turning there, excitement, exciting news, exciting news, other than James being a grandpa, Grandpa James.

We're starting a new book tonight. We're going to start the book of Ephesians. So I'm really looking forward to that. And Ephesians is one of my favorite books anyway. So it's like Romans 8. It's one of those verses that you refer to often and often and often because it's so clear. So here we are in Psalm 5. Beginning at verse 1.

Give ear to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up.

For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, Neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, or falsehood, or lying. And the Lord will abhor the bloody and the deceitful man.

But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy. and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord," and this is what led me to using this psalm, is, lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies.

Make thy way straight. before my face. And that's my prayer as we begin and work our way through this letter to the Ephesians written by the Apostle Paul. But before we do that, we're going to need our Bibles a little bit tonight. We'll be looking at a couple of different places. One will be in the book of Ephesians chapter one, of course. That'll be where our text is. And we're also going to look a little bit over at Romans. But we'll turn to that when we get to it. For the most part, we'll be staying in our handouts. And I want to begin with giving you an introduction to this book of Ephesians.

The key to this letter is totaled up in verse number eight of chapter two. If we can keep these words in mind throughout this entire epistle, the message will be revealed to our hearts. For by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. I was introduced to this first chapter by our dear beloved brother, Tom Sawyer. one of the elders of our congregation. In our men's meetings, different men would read scripture and lead the men in prayer, and Tom would more often than not read this first chapter over and over again and again. And as time has gone on, I believe I have probably referred to these words as often as I do Romans 8.

Every detail of God's gospel message is covered right here in chapter 1. And the first nine verses of chapter 2, that does not mean that the rest of this letter has nothing to declare of the gospel, but that chapter 1 and 2 are as clear as crystal as to the gospel message. There's nothing there that desperately needs to be, well, this is what this is saying, this is what this means. It's very clear, it's very forthright.

Christ, the deliverer of God's chosen people, is the promised Messiah. As we delve to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, God help us to constantly keep this in mind, for by grace are ye saved. Unmerited favor. Lord, cause us to look to Him as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent. Lord, lift up your Son in our hearts. Our first text tonight, we're gonna consider God's messenger and his message, and we get this subject matter from Ephesians 1, verses 1 and 2, where we read, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints, which are Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Last paragraph of page 1, the Lord of Glory moved Paul to lay a solid foundation of doctrinal truths for the saints which were at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus throughout time.

He knew that in time false teachers would rise up in the church and spread corrupt doctrines. I want to stop there for just a moment. What are some of these corrupt doctrines that God has allowed, as it says in the book of Jude, allowed to creep into the church's unawares and speak in a lascivious way? What are some of these false doctrines? the true doctrine of Christ. Well, how about the corrupt doctrine of progressive sanctification?

If you have not heard of that, and I believe most of you are familiar with that phrase and know how false it is, we are fully and perfectly without corruption, sanctified, set apart, made holy in our Savior. And if we are perfectly made holy in our Savior, how can you get more holy than you already are?

Well, those who think that the new man in us is the man who walks better than he did in the years before, who has changed in doing this in life and doing that in life, and wants to look at those kinds of things as their measurement of salvation, Think exactly that, that they're getting better.

I don't know of a single gospel preacher who has ever said anything other than, if anything, we are getting worse. We grow more aware of our sin every day. It is always before us. And in doing so, we grow more aware of the grace of God in saving us. There is no such thing as progressive sanctification. All of my sanctification is in my Savior, the Lord Jesus. Now let's go on.

Paul knew that men would creep into the church as they do just that very thing, doing great harm to the church and destroying the souls of men. There's no help to men in that progressive sanctification teaching. There's only condemnation. Because a true sinner knows that we don't get any better. So it destroys the souls of men.

This letter was designed to establish us in gospel doctrine, in gospel teaching, so we might not be sifted with the devices of Satan. Page 2. As was his custom. Paul began his letter to the Ephesians with the gracious salutation and introduction to the saints at Ephesus. Paul says, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

Those two introductory verses are often skimmed over, and I'm guilty of that very thing as well, folks. I normally jump right to verse number three and go all the way through the whole first chapter, right all the way to verse number nine. I'll cover all of those, but very rarely do I ever stop and consider, and tonight I really want to take the time to think about this.

Here we see some instructions here, and Paul affirms his authority over the churches as an apostle of Jesus Christ. He describes his calling and the power in that office as being by the will of God. Now, I can tell you a little something about the will of God. For John, it was the will of God that God put me in this position. I did, I was, I'm telling you, you don't even have to believe me, I know in my heart, I was not looking for this position at all. And God God had intended for me to be there though. And he brought it about in such a way that even those who witnessed it said to themselves, my goodness, look at how the Lord's done a work here. He stopped the one man and brought in another. Only God can do that kind of thing.

Oh, he tells us, Paul does, the general scope of his ministry was to the saints in the kingdom of Christ. The purpose of his ministry was to make known unto men by the power of God the grace, peace, and salvation we have from God through Jesus Christ the Lord. So let's consider a little bit on God's messengers. Paul identifies himself as a messenger of Jesus Christ.

Who are God's messengers? You ever ask yourself that? Who are God's messengers? Who are those who are preachers of Christ? We have preachers galore all around us. You can find one on every street corner. We have preachers everywhere claiming to be God's messenger. So how do we know which ones are God's messenger and which ones are not his messenger?

Oh, I hope to spend a little time tonight and put those thoughts into our mind and then we can all walk away saying, yep, that's right. God the Holy Spirit makes a clear distinction for us in this book. We would be wise to pay attention. Paul also gives his name an apostolic authority to confirm the authenticity of his epistle.

He does not call himself the apostle, but an apostle, an apostle of Christ. He was one among many. Every true servant of God recognizes that he is but a voice, as John the Baptist was, but a voice in the wilderness. That's all we are, is a voice in the wilderness crying out, Behold your God. He was a voice, a servant of Jesus Christ, just one among many laboring together for Christ. Nor did Paul thrust himself into the office or seek it in any way. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. He declared, necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.

God's ministers have to remind ourselves over and over and over again, that is our subject, always. When Pastor Gene said to me, John, keep on keeping on, that's exactly what he was talking about. Don't go off on this subject over there. Don't go off on this over there. Keep Christ and Him crucified always before you. Woe unto you, woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.

1 Corinthians 9.16.

His labor, his sacrifices, and his sufferings were patiently endured because of that necessity. He put up with those sacrifices. He put up with the sufferings. He patiently endured all that he had because it was a necessity for him to preach the gospel. He did not engage in this work that he might obtain a livelihood. Do we do it for security or to have an honorable name? but we minister because God had called him, as Paul did, to the work, and he put him in it.

No man taketh this honor unto himself, is what the Lord tells us in Hebrews 5.4. Yet he who is called of God does not shrink from the responsibilities and sacrifices disbanded by the necessity God puts on him.

The church desperately needs servants of God today, messengers of Jesus Christ sent by the will of God. Page three. We need men called of God to preach the everlasting gospel of his free and sovereign grace in Christ. Men constrained by the love of Christ and not by the love of money. Men who labor not for gain. but for the glory of God. Men who do not fleece the sheep, but feed them. Men who are sent into the field to work, not men who seek attention. It says, a man sent by the will of God. What is a man sent of the will of God? First, understand this about God's messengers. That man who is called of God to preach the gospel is a man called, gifted, and sent by the will of God.

He is a sent man, the man who puts himself in the ministry, who labors for any motive other than the will of God and the glory of God, is not a gospel preacher. He may proclaim truth, but he cannot preach the true gospel. He may preach many things pleasing to the ear, but he cannot preach the gospel and the power of God. How shall they preach except they be sent? Romans 10, verse 15.

The man who bears God's message to God's people must be sent of Him. The prophets of old were sent of God. Those who were not sent of God had no message from God. The apostles were sent out to preach. to preach the gospel of the kingdom and the power of God by Christ. Even our Lord Jesus Himself, as the messenger of the covenant, was sent of God.

Read John chapter 17, the first nine verses, and see where it talks about that we know, we know that God the Father sent His Son and we believe. Paul's confession, second to the last paragraph of page three, I'm sorry, the last sentence of that last paragraph, it is to him as the Lord of the harvest we are directed to pray that he will send the laborers into the field.

Paul's confession was that he was an apostle by the will of God. He confessed there was nothing in him which made him worthy of the ministry. Like all men, he was corrupt by nature. He had been a blasphemer and a persecutor. Before Paul could be a messenger of Christ to men, he had to be born again. He had been called to life by the will of God. He was chosen to be God's child in eternity. He was redeemed by Christ's blood at Calvary. He was called by God's Spirit on the Damascus road by a personal and powerful and particular quickening call. By the way, if I might add one more point to that, every single one of us, every single one of God's children were made with that very same call, were given life by that very same call of the Spirit of God.

Paul was in full amazement. as all of God's ministers are, at God's grace in calling a sinner and making him the messenger of Christ, he said, unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Not one of God's messengers that I know personally would say any differently. I find it interesting that Henry Mahan would call himself least of all of God's messengers.

John Reeves can say that very easily. But I find it interesting how Don Fortner's and David Edmondson's and many, many other All the ones that I know that preach the truth would say the very same thing. Christ came to save sinners of who I am chief. Page four. How about these words from 2 Corinthians 4, 7? But we have this treasure in earth and heavens, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Paul confessed he was now God's servant only by the will of God. He could have given credence to all that he had learned. He had been taught by the best. But his glory that he gives to being a servant of God is the will of God. Secondly, God's messenger is his servant.

We cannot do better when we look for a model of a gospel preacher than the apostle Paul himself. In Romans, we have another example of the way Paul described himself and all who truly preach the gospel. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. Did you catch that? Romans 1 verse 1, separated unto the gospel of God. The man who truly preaches the gospel is a servant of Jesus Christ. Gospel preachers are willing, voluntary bond slaves of the Son of God. Paul did not call himself Reverend Paul, Dr. Paul, Father Paul, or Pope Paul, but Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. This man counted it his highest honor to be a servant of Christ. He was one servant among many, and he was just a servant.

What is the call to the ministry? God gives his servants a desire to serve the souls of men. That's what a call to the ministry is. It's to serve the souls of men. all those who God directs into this building that allows me the opportunity to preach His gospel to them, that's my desire, is that the Lord will use the preaching of the gospel to speak to people's hearts.

I've had the blessedness of seeing one do that, Grandpa James. I remember when he came to this church, he didn't even come here to hear me preach, he came here to meet some Man, they got fired from FedEx. And the Lord spoke to him in the message that day. Yes. I'm not, well, I can't say it hasn't happened again. I'm not sure what the Lord's doing in our sister, Gisela's heart, but you just never know. It's not always as plain as it was with Grandpa James, but it is a great blessedness to witness.

He gives his servants understanding in the word of God. He gives his servants the ability to communicate the things of God to men. He gives his servants the ability to lead men. What does it mean to be called to be an apostle? Gospel preachers are called and gifted of God to be his messengers. A gospel preacher is a man with a message, a message from God, a message burning in his soul which he must deliver. He is a man with a messianic call and a messianic purpose and a messianic mandate.

I remember telling my uncle in Arkansas about Kathy and I had drove for two days. And I had preached to the windshield for two days. She was tired, so she slept most of that trip on her way to Kentucky that year. And I remember my uncle in Arkansas telling him at his church about the devotional that God had laid on my heart. And I could not wait to get back to rescue and bring a devotional about it.

He poked me in the chest, or pointed me in the chest, and said, you and I have different gospels, different gods. And he was right. His God was himself, and my God is the Lord Jesus. But it was interesting how, as I was putting this together, I was thinking about that very thing. It burns in our hearts. When the Lord puts something on my mind on Tuesday, and it burns all the way through to Saturday. It's scary, sometimes He takes it away, just the day before I'm supposed to step to the pulpit.

But these are things that God works out for His men. If they have a messianic mandate, if you ever run across a man with a mandate from God, or a man who even thinks he has a mandate from God, you will not have to wonder about it. You're going to know it. He will fit no mold, bowed in no pressure, surrender no ground, make no compromise, why should he? He has a mandate from God that makes him utterly uncontrollable by anyone except God who sent him.

You all know that this ministry is under attack from within. Somebody wants us to consider progressive sanctification. I stood up to the man. I told him, stop it. Don't do that here. We're not going to argue about this. This is the way it is. I preach Christ and Him crucified, period. That's my mandate. That's all of God's messengers' mandate.

Paul claimed to be a messenger of Jesus Christ. As such, he claimed to bear the message of the King to his kingdom. He was the apostle God appointed to take the place of Judas. He was born out of due time. He had the signs and the wonders and miracles which affirmed his office as the apostle Paul of Christ. As the Apostle of Christ, Paul had authority over the churches and they were bound under God to receive his instructions. Page 5. If a man is God's messenger, he's aware of his commission from God in heaven.

His commission is not to be a social worker, not to be a carnal counselor, but a messenger of Christ. I remember the first time I heard my pastor say that from the pulpit. I'm not here to counsel anybody. I've not gone to school and learned the different things that people need to be counseled on in this carnal world. Only thing I have is the experience of salvation of Christ in my heart. That's it. That's all I've got.

I'm not a social worker, I'm not a carnal counselor, but I'm a messenger of Christ. Listen to these words from John 20 verse 21. Then said Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. The peace that Christ is talking about is spiritual peace.

I know there's a lot of things in this world that trouble a lot of us. And some of us are going through even bigger troubles than the rest of us can imagine. But folks, I'm just a messenger of Christ. That's all I am. All I can do is give you the experience that I have in salvation, and that is the glory of Christ.

Those who preach the gospel, though they were servants of men, yet they have but one master. It is God who determines their place of service. It is God who gives them a message needed for an occasion. It is God to whom they give an account. and they are separated unto the gospel. Another thing about that man who truly preaches the gospel, he's the servant of Jesus Christ, a divinely called messenger of Christ, and he is separated unto the gospel. God's servants do not take this business of being God's servants lightly. They are men separated into the gospel by God's decree, God's call, God's gifts, God's placement, and by their own ever-increasing devotion and termination. I want you to turn over to Romans chapter 1 and read some verses with me there. We're going to come back to Ephesians, so mark that. Turn over to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Look with me beginning at verse 9, if you would.

For God is my witness, whom I serve, with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was let hitherto, that I might have some fruit among you, also even among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So as much as in me I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith."

Remember what I said we need to remember? If God will allow us just to remember these words, Ephesians 2 verse 8, you're saved by grace through faith. Oh, if we could just keep those words before us at all times. Back in our handout again, third paragraph from the bottom of page 5. Go back to your text in Ephesians as well if you would.

Paul was not only called by God to do the work of the ministry, but he was qualified. to be the servant of God by his will and grace. Paul was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a man humbled by the realization of the momentous task set before him and his own insufficiency to accomplish it. To the one, we are a saver of death unto death, and to the other, a saver of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

2 Corinthians 2.16. But he was also a man bold and fearless before men. We also know that Paul was a man given to the study of scriptures, constant in labor and fervent in prayer and full of love.

Now I want to stop there for a moment because I fall short of that so far. You talk about a man who feels so insufficient. But you know something? Pastor Gene and I talked for many, many years about how I would drive around in my truck and think of Scriptures and preach little messages to the windshield just like he used to do to the tractor that he drove, the heavy equipment that he used to drive. And he said, John, do you realize that's not something that all men and women do? Did you do that before the Lord started doing a work in your heart? No. No, I never did.

He says, well, that's what this is about. This is about absorbing and contemplating and turning God's Word over in your heart and in your mind, thinking about it all the day. That's part of studying. It's not just sitting there reading the Word of God over and over and over again, which is beneficial. But that's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is the very thing that I just mentioned. God's Word is always in my mind for some reason.

I don't just put it there. It's there. Sometimes by reading an article from another man, hearing somebody who says something false on TV or radio, or going to a funeral and hearing some garbage being said about Jesus loves everybody and died for everybody if you'll just let Him. Oh. Folks, God's ministers study God's Word over and over in their mind. We're self-sacrificing.

A man whose heart was set upon heaven is what it says. That man who preaches the gospel of Christ is like Abraham's servant who was sent to get a bride for his son Isaac. He will not be distracted from his work by pleasure or pressure. He is separated from the gospel. When God calls a man to the work of the gospel, he qualifies him for the work with the necessary gifts and graces. He empowers him with the authority of heaven to watch over the souls of men. Page six. The servant of God must rule the church of God with love, patience, and tenderness. He must rule by the word of God. He must rule faithfully and freely. He must rule with boldness, and he must rule by example. What are the desires of God's messengers? In verse 2, God's messenger expresses the desire of his heart for God's elect.

A faithful pastor's heart is incessantly anxious for the people trusted to his care. constantly desiring and seeking the everlasting welfare of their souls. As a faithful father seeks the good of his family, the faithful servant of God seeks the good of God's family and devotes himself to it. Look at what Paul expresses here as the desire of his heart for the people of God, whom he dearly loves.

Remember, he's writing by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. That means he is telling us the incessant desire of God's heart for his people. God's desire is his determination. Listen to this, grace be to you. This is God's desire for each and every one of us. And like I said, it's His determination, it's His purpose. Is anything gonna stop it? Grace be to you and peace? Peace from what? Peace from the things of this earth? No. Peace from the sin from within. Peace from the debt that sin deserves. Peace.

Grace be unto you and peace from our God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Don Fortner wrote this, he said, this sentence is an inspired pronouncement of grace and peace upon every believing sinner for time and eternity. Grace will be the constant gift of God our Father upon his boundless abundance. And the constant result of that grace will be ever increasing peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. When God, the Holy Spirit, puts the grace of God in us, he gives us faith in and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our peace.

With every fresh experience of grace, we are given ever increasing peace, peace that passeth understanding, peace in our conscience by the blood of Christ. When I think of the blood of my Savior, I see the Redeemment is made. Redemption is fulfilled as we read in Ephesians 1 verse 7. Peace on our conscience by the blood of Christ. Peace in our hearts by the confidence that's in Christ.

What He did was perfect. I'm confident that whatever He did, His purpose has been accomplished. peace with one another as we increasingly unite to one another in Christ. Well, if I have peace through Christ because He's forgiven me, guess what, folks? I got peace with you because He's forgiven you, too.

I know. I know. We've all seen it. We've all seen the battles between Brothers and sisters, at one time or another, especially those of us who've been around in the congregation for a long period of time, I didn't say we did anything perfectly, but our Lord has. Our Lord has done everything perfectly. And that gives me peace, even with my failures, to be at peace with others. Soon, the perfect peace of eternal glory in the presence of Christ.

The servant of Christ has primarily three reasons of concern, and these three things are goals which every true gospel minister sets for his life. First, it is the desire of Christ's servant to glorify God. Every decision a minister makes must be governed by that question. How is God to be most honored? In every sermon, a minister must strive to give no honor to man, but only honor God. The man who desires the office of bishop desires a good work, but his desire must be for the glory of God. A minister of the gospel must be willing to sacrifice many family joys and comforts for God's glory.

He is first God's servant, then a husband. He is first God's servant, then a father. He is first God's servant, Secondly, it is the desire of Christ's servant to win men to Christ. His heart is in travail for the souls of men. His desire is to do men good. Therefore, he does not make merchandise of their souls. He tells them the truth about sin.

Folks, we are sin from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet, and it never gets any better in this flesh. Our spirit gets a lot better. We have the joy of salvation through grace, but there's nothing any better in this flesh. Until the Lord takes us out of this world, this flesh is gonna be more and more sinful.

He tells them the truth about justice. God demands justice. And when he demanded justice from this sinner, His son, who sits on his throne this very moment, says, I've paid that justice. I've shed my blood for that justice. Justice has been served. He tells them the truth about salvation. Salvation is of the Lord, period. Thirdly, it is the desire of Christ's servant to serve Christ's kingdom. The servant of Christ is a shepherd, a friend, a teacher to the saints. He is a watchman in Israel. to the saints, to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

I admire the way Paul speaks of God's people in Ephesians 1.1. He says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

He calls them saints because he always looked upon them as God's chosen people. I don't know who God's chosen people are. It could be the very one who's attacking us from within. which pleases me that he still attends services here, and maybe God will turn him. Maybe it will be God's will, and that is my desire, is that the Lord will turn even those that we know are walking down the path of destruction to Christ. He's always looked upon them as God's chosen people, a people separated from the world and made holy by His free grace in Christ, sanctified by His grace.

Because all who trust Christ are saints. and a holy people in Him. They are to be looked upon by us as saints, as those who being precious and honorable in God's sight." If you're precious and honorable in God's sight, Roger, you better be precious and honorable to me, and I hope I do. I hope you are. I hope I am. As those who being precious and honorable in God's sight, holy and without blame before Him, are to be esteemed better than ourselves." Philippians 2 verse 3, page 8.

Then, the inspired apostle addresses God's saints as those who are the faithful. He thereby makes clear that he is not addressing just saints at Ephesus, but all the faithful wherever they are found. The faithful are those who have God-given faith in Christ.

They trust Christ with all their heart to the saving of their soul. The faithful look to Him alone for all grace and salvation. They venture on Him, rely on Him, and trust Him for eternal life and salvation. Their faith in Christ makes them faithful and true to Him, whose name is faithful and true. They are faithful to his cause, his gospel, his church, his people, and faithful in the totality of their lives.

Lastly, consider the message of God's messengers. The man who is called, gifted, and sent of God to preach the gospel has a message to deliver. A message that burns like fire in his bones. A message he must deliver. Brother Scott Richardson described preaching better than I've ever heard it described when he said, preaching is getting a message from God's heart to my heart to your heart. No man can do that. But if God the Holy Spirit speaks through a man, that's exactly what happens.

As I was considering those words, I thought to myself how important Pastor Gene taught me to go to the back of the church and greet people as they leave. It was a very difficult thing for me to do. I felt like I was being praised for something I had not done. And I didn't realize, and it took me a while to learn this, that the praise coming from the folks is exactly what Scott Richard just said.

A message that God gave me that came from God's heart to my heart to your heart. And as people pass out the back door, they get an opportunity to say, that was a message that I needed to hear. Those are comforting words. No man can do that. But if God the Holy Spirit speaks through a man, that's exactly what happens. The man who is sent of God has a message from God to deliver. The old prophet spoke of it as the burden of the word of the Lord.

Insofar as its doctrinal content is concerned, the message is always the same. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2. who 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, 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. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, 2 Timothy 1, verse 9-11.

It is always a message of comfort to the hearts of God's elect. Comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for her sin." That's Isaiah 40, verses 1 and 2. God's servants have a message of grace and peace to men through Jesus Christ.

They tell perishing sinners a free, eternal, undeserved, sovereign grace of God which flows freely to men ruined by the fall and is given to all sinners who go to Christ in repentance and faith. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." John 6, 37. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all expectation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

1 Timothy 1, 15. The one central message of God's servant is the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ. God's servants proclaim a message of God's absolute sovereignty. Read with me, if you would, verses 4 through 14 of Ephesians chapter 1. Are you with me still? Ephesians chapter 1, beginning at verse 4. 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 the children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself. that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted Christ. in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory.

What shall I cry is my words to my God, All God's servants who are sent to preach the gospel see eye to eye. They all preach the same message. They announce redemption accomplished. They preach all flesh is grass. They declare, behold your God, omnipotent, holy, sovereign, and gracious. Amen.

pt1 Ephesians

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

How do we know the doctrine of predestination is true?

Why is the message of grace important for Christians?

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pt1 Ephesians

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about grace in salvation?

How do we know the doctrine of predestination is true?

Why is the message of grace important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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