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Wayne Boyd

God's Will & Purpose

Ephesians 1:10-14
Wayne Boyd • June, 21 2026 • Video & Audio
1,699 Sermons
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Wayne Boyd
Wayne Boyd • June, 21 2026
1,699 sermons
This sermon centers on the biblical doctrine of predestination, emphasizing that God's will and purpose are sovereignly accomplished through Jesus Christ. It argues that salvation is entirely a result of God's grace and eternal decree, not human effort, urging believers to rest in Christ's finished work rather than striving for merit. The text highlights that God works all things according to the counsel of His own will, ensuring that His redemptive plan cannot be frustrated or altered by human circumstances. This theological truth is presented as a source of comfort and joy, reminding the audience that their salvation secures an eternal inheritance and brings glory to God. Ultimately, the message calls for trust in God's intelligence and deliberation, even when His reasons remain hidden from human understanding.

Sermon Transcript

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to Ephesians 1. Ephesians 1. The name of the message is God's Will and Purpose. God's Will and Purpose. Now, what's the hardest thing for us as believers to do? Amen. Rest in Christ. Rest in Christ, isn't it? And that's all we're supposed to do, isn't it? Live our life before the Lord, strive against sin, and look to Christ. Look to Christ. He's vital. Vital. We need to, as Scott Richardson used to say, look away from ourselves and look up to Christ.

So today, in doing that, I'd like to present God's will and purpose in the text with us today. Ephesians chapter one, we'll be reading verses 10 to 14 of chapter one. And beloved God, as we read these verses, we will see that predestination is brought forth. And let us remember that predestination is a biblical precept. It's a doctrine in the scriptures.

And what it brings forth is God will have his own way. God will have his own way. And his own will will be accomplished. And what it brings forth is also that he reigns. He reigns supreme. He reigns over all. He rules right now. And he will so until this world is all finished and there's a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And the born-again, blood-washed believer rejoices in this wonderful truth of predestination. About how God reigns. Are you not thankful, beloved, that God reigns?

That he rules over all things? Even our lives, say, brother. That he's accomplishing his will, and his purpose. And he doesn't ask permission from anybody. He's God. You see, we have an improper view of who God is due to the fall. We think it's all about us and what we do. It's not. It's all about Christ and what he's done. What he's done.

And so we rejoice in this wonderful truth. And. Ultimately, we see God's mercy on full display, don't we? And we see his grace on full display. In the redemption of our souls. Did he have to save us? No. Not at all. So that's where we should start, right? In our view of ourselves. We're just sinners. Who God didn't have to save, but he chose to save. Isn't that wonderful? So what does that do? That puts us down here, and puts him up here.

Because he's the one who finished the work, right? And again, the hardest thing for us to do is just look and rest in that work. We're wired to want to do something. It's done. It's finished. The gospel preacher has one message. One message. Christ and him crucified. That's it. I got no other message for you. that except Christ died for sinners. And it's absolutely wonderful. It's wonderful.

And we rejoice over that message, don't we? We who are the born again blood washed people, we rejoice over that message. Because we were told when we were in religion, or we thought before we were saved, that there was something we had to do. But then it was revealed to us that it's all done. It's all done. Let's read.

Let's read verses 10 to 14. And one thing we're gonna see here, one thing we're gonna see here is that God is infinitely good and merciful and kind, and he has his will and his way, and none can stay his hand. No matter our thought upon this subject, the Lord reigns. No matter our thought or somebody else's thought, the Lord reigns. That's it. He reigns. He reigns.

And what do we say? Let the earth rejoice with the psalmist, right? Let the earth rejoice and let his adversaries tremble as our predestination is according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Let people rail against predestination. It's still happening. Let people rail against the doctrines of grace.

And you know what that is? That's just showing us who they really are. I was there before the Lord saved me. I was taught, you know, all those Calvinists, you stay away from those fellas. Chris, you went through, Eric went through that. Eric, remember Eric and Sandy? Eric said, he was raised, he was raised in a Pentecostal church, and he was told, you stay away from those Calvinists.

And he says, Why? You just do that, son. And then the Lord saved him. And he loves the doctrines of grace. Because they're Christ-centered. Look at this, look what Paul writes here. And remember, this is the Holy Spirit of God writing this. Through Paul, right? These are the words of the Holy Spirit. Paul's a penman. but the Holy Spirit is the one who's moving him to righteousness.

That in the dispensation, verse 10, Ephesians 110, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, which are both in heaven, 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 in 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 the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of his glory. So let's look at verse 11 once again. We studied the first part about obtaining an inheritance through Christ.

And then it says being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will. Predestination means purpose. Purpose. It implies an end. God's predestinated our salvation. So the end of our predestination is our salvation in Christ. And it's God who planned it and purposed it. Why did he choose us? Because it pleased him to do so. Nothing else. No other reason. No other reason. God predestined our salvation in Christ, and you know what else he did? You know what else he did?

He provided all things necessary for life and godliness. Who provided the ability for us to walk in Christ? God did. I'm so thankful, Charlie, that Christ did it all, aren't you? That there's nothing we have to do to gain favor with God. Now we serve him, don't we? Because we love him. We desire to come to church and hear the gospel. We desire to come and hear the wondrous things Christ done for us. We desire to support the work. We desire to see one another because we love one another.

Chris, I didn't know you. I didn't know you from Adam two years ago. And now I love you like a younger brother, man. How do you explain that? How do you explain that? It's the grace of God in Christ. That's what it is. And y'all know I love you guys too. I got older brothers and sisters now. I got moms. I'm so blessed. I got dads now. I'm so blessed. And we're all in Christ, aren't we? Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful. My goodness. So predestination, rightly viewed, brings forth that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit do not work at random.

They're not going, oh well, I need to say, they're not reactionary. We see a reactionary gospel presented today. God's done everything he can do for you, now the rest is up to you. That's a reactionary gospel. I don't preach a reactionary gospel, except look to Christ, and that's because God makes us look to him, doesn't he? And I still call sinners to Christ, right? Because God will bring his people to him.

But this salvation that we have in Christ is planned and purposed and actually put into action by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our salvation is not random or blindly done. It's according to a preconceived idea. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. My. And Christ was, Christ came Because part of that preconceived idea, Christ was to come and save his people from all their sins by the shedding of his precious blood. All planned and purposed before we ever were, before the world ever was. He's the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, isn't he? And then put in action by God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Look at verse 11 again. The redeemed, the Lord, have been predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Marvel at this. Marvel what we learned in this wonderful study so far, that predestination is not only to sonship, but also to an inheritance. We've been adopted and given an inheritance in Christ that can never fade away, never be spoiled. My. And predestination is not only the sonship, but to an inheritance. It's not only secures the grace of adoption, but but prepares and provides a heavenly portion, all in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, in His perfect, sin-atoning work. And the wonderful act of predestination in Christ proceeds, we see, predestinated according to the purpose of Him. It proceeds on purpose. And I ask you this, can a purpose of God ever be frustrated?

Nope, no, it can't be, can it? Nope. It can't be stopped. It can't be altered. It shall come to pass. And here we are, proof of it. Born-again, blood-washed believers rejoicing in Christ. Oh, how my soul delights in my Savior. Oh, how it's wondrous to keep hearing about Him. You know, I spent a week like you guys going through this world. And isn't it wonderful to come and hear about our Savior? To hear about the one who accomplished it all. to hear about the one whose will cannot be frustrated, even though ours can be sometimes in this world, right?

Think of that. When we get upset because things don't happen the way we think it should, that never happens with God. That never happens with Him. He's never frustrated. His will and purpose shall come to pass. Isn't that wonderful? My. It's a beautiful verse. Because it shows us that our God reigns. In our great God we see works all things. We see it in the text here according to his will. According to his purpose. After the counsel of his own will. This brings forth that our God is sovereign. That he rules and reigns.

Lord, help my unbelief. Help me when I get frustrated about things going on in this world. Help me when I get frustrated about things going on in my life. And let me rest in the fact that you reign. Give me the grace to do that, Lord, please. Is that not the cry of all our hearts? Yeah. We're real here, aren't we? This is real. This is how it is for us. I need Christ always. Because I don't have the strength and the ability to carry on, do you?

And he keeps us, doesn't he? Isn't it wonderful? because it's according to, look at this, because we're predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things, look at that little word, all things after the counsel of his own will. Now he's not the author of sin, is he? But sin's in this world, isn't it? And that comes from our own hearts.

And he even uses the sinfulness of man to accomplish his will and purpose. Look at the Egyptians, they took the Israelites and turned them into slaves. They once welcomed them into their land, turned them into slaves. But that was all according to the will and purpose of God that he might deliver them from those wicked men. And he crushed Egypt. Egypt was never the same after that. Before that, it was one of the world's powers. It was never the same. Farrell and his army were destroyed. All the best and the brightest, and they had a great military, gone, washed up.

My, what power our God has. And we see here again that our God, he works all things after the counsel of his own will, according to his purpose, and the counsel of his will. Our God, again, is sovereign. He's in full control, so let us trust that truth each day.

And that's hard for us to do, just to trust. And he's in control. You just turn the TV on, start turning the channels, right? And what gets poured out before you? Amen, sister. Just craziness and war and sin everywhere. My. And that can shake us sometimes, can't it? Let's be honest. That's when we need to say, our God reigneth. I'm preaching to myself, too, right? Our God reigneth. He reigns. Something happens in my life, get me all worked up, our God reigns.

It's according to his will and purpose. My. and see the words after the counsel of his own will. The Greek word for counselor brings forth the idea of intelligence in deliberation. And the word will is a desire that springs from one's emotions. Our God does things according to his will and according to his purpose deliberately. It's we who have to conform to his will, isn't it?

When we don't understand what's happening. My. And here we see, therefore, that the will of God, which acts according to his foreordaining purpose or decree, is declared to have its counsel, the idea of intelligence and deliberation, set forth, acting, not arbitrarily, but intelligently. intelligently, and by deliberation. Not without reason, but for reasons hidden from us. Right? My. Kathy and Dan both got cancer at the same time, remember? We can't understand that, right?

We think, why? Well, it's according to God's will, and now they're both cancer-free, praise God, by the will of God. We don't understand why they went through that, but it was according to the will and purpose of God. The reason is hidden from us. Why do we go through certain things in our life that nobody else goes through? Or we think nobody else goes through, but if we got together, we'd find out we all go through a lot of the same things. The reasons are hidden from us.

We need to bow to our king. And that's hard to do, isn't it, Travis? But if we remember that all things work for our good and for his glory. That's what we gotta keep in before us, beloved. That's why we gotta keep that before us. We don't understand. The reasons are hidden from us.

And we see this great redemptive plan of salvation of sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ's perfect sinatonic work springs from the riches of God's grace. according to his will and purpose. If you're saved here, you're saved according to the will and purpose of God. That's amazing. That's amazing. And marvel, beloved of God, that God's grace and mercy are all according to his good pleasure. His good pleasure. And all after the counsel of his own will.

This grace, this mercy that we sinners receive in Christ, finds its source in God the Father. It springs from God the Father. And God the Son and the Holy Spirit too, right? Because the three are one. And therefore, the source of the well of salvation, which is Christ, springs from the same eternal foundation that decreed that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, would become a man and die in the room and place of sinners, such as we. It's amazing.

With that in mind, let us read verse 12 of Ephesians chapter 1, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ, who first trusted in Christ. Now, we see the words first trusted and we think, What does that mean? Well, that's talking about the Jews who heard the gospel and were saved. Because look at the verse 13. 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 the Holy Spirit of promise. Paul heard the gospel before the Ephesians heard it.

That's what this is bringing forth. Same gospel, all right? Gospel of God's grace. And marvel, beloved God, that the saints were made God's heritage, look at this, that we should be to the praise of his glory. That's incredible. Former rebels. Cursing God's name. Sin in our heart, our mind, and the things that we do are saved that we might praise our great God.

So who does the glory go back to? The very one who gave it. The glory goes back to the giver of grace. Isn't that wonderful? This verse, I just love this so much. The word that shows us to the end that we are to the praise of his glory. It's a presupposition. It tells us this is a result of us being saved. that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Do you glorify Christ? Do you glorify Christ in our lives and in our minds, in our thoughts, in our speech?

Hmm? No, then that's right there. That's right there. This is amazing. It's not like we'd like to, but God accepts it in Christ. We're just flash. But the fact that we do give him the glory, the fact that we do give him the praise, shows that we've been born again. even how little it is. Isn't that wonderful? It's not based on us, is it, Travis? It's wonderful. Why do we praise him? Oh, because he's so good to us. I can't wait to this morning's message. I'm gonna tell you all about my king and your king, too. And I'm so excited, I can't wait. Oh, I can't wait to preach that message. It's wonderful. Christ is wonderful. It's all about him. It's all about him.

Weiss brings forth, he says, see the words should be, they often carry the idea of an obligation in the English reader, to the English reader. And thus suggests the obligation of a Christian to live a life that would be to the praise of God's glory, right? That's what we think about as an English reader of this text. But Paul is speaking here of the saint's position. Do we desire to praise him? Of course we do. Do we praise him like we want to? but God still accepts it right in Christ. People see this and they think, oh, I gotta do this all the time.

It's not speaking of that, although we desire to do that. It's speaking of a position. Paul's not speaking of his Christian experience, but he's speaking of his position in Christ. Now later on he's going to speak in chapters four to six, he's gonna speak about Christian experience. Just like in Flippian study, we saw through the preaching of Christ even, right? Practical Christian living.

Which we're gonna see in this too. And you know what that is? Looking to Christ. Each day. That's what it is. And look at this, that we should be to the praise of His glory. This is the end of predestination. We're predestinated to an inheritance in Christ. That the praise of the glory of God in His grace and goodness might be discovered and made known unto we who are the saints of God. as it's displayed in election, in Christ. Redemption, in Christ. Justification, through Christ. Pardon, by Christ. Adoption, in Christ. Regeneration, given faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And eternal salvation, which is only found in Christ.

It's wonderful, isn't it? It's wonderful, beloved. And we are to praise and glorify God on account of those things by ascribing all glory to his grace and mercy and nothing to ourselves. by giving him thanks for all his benefits, by doing all things with a view to his glory. Right?

Giving thanks for the great things he'd done for us by the sacrifice of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise God the Father, don't we? God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And we see that the praise of his glory, this clause states the ultimate end which God had in view in foreordaining us to be made his inheritance. It is through us his glory might be set forth.

And compare the prophet's declaration. Listen to this. This is incredible. In Isaiah 43, 21, this people, which I formed for myself, that they might show forth my praise. Isaiah 43, 21. Now let's read verse 12 again. Ephesians 1, 12, with that in mind.

That we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Now notice the word we. The born-again, blood-washed people of God are described as those who first trusted in Christ. The word trust is not the Greek word which means to believe, to trust, but this Greek word means to hope before, to repose, which means reposing as you're fully trusting.

You guys are reposing in seats right now. These seats are gonna hold you up. It means to repose, rest. Rest in Christ. To repose. Hope in a person or thing before the event confirms it The old testament saints looked to christ didn't they? Before he even came We look back to the cross To the messiah. They look forward to the messiah. We look back to the messiah. We're looking at the same person, aren't we?

The lord jesus christ my Brethren, we see that all God's riches in heaven and earth are all rolled up in the Savior, in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we will inherit all those good things simply because we trusted Christ by the grace of God, simply because we looked to Christ by the grace of God. We've been given faith by the grace of God to believe on Christ. And you know this, verse 12, Notice it has the words, in Christ.

In Christ. It's being bought to the forefront. The words, in Christ. If you go back, I think it's four or five times. I think it's four times. This is the fourth or fifth time Paul, in just 12 verses, has said, in Christ. And if you go and look at his epistles, He's constantly putting forth in Christ, in Christ, in Christ. That's where the believer is, in Christ. That's vital.

In relation to our trust and belief, it should always be carefully remembered that these acts of ours are not the cause of our safety and blessedness, but the effect. Why do we believe on Christ? Because we've been born again and given faith to believe. Why have we been born again? Because Christ died for us 2,000 years ago. Why did Christ die for us? Because God the Father planned and purposed our salvation in eternity and chose us in Christ. And the end result is we're going to be with the Lord forever. My, praise the name of Jesus. Brother Travis, can you close us in prayer?
Wayne Boyd
About Wayne Boyd
Wayne Boyd is the current pastor of First Baptist Church in Almont, Michigan.
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Sermons on Ephesians 1

Fundamentals: Redemption John Sarson · Ephesians 1:7
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An Inheritance Wayne Boyd · Ephesians 1:11
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