Well, good morning to everyone.
So delighted to see our visitors from all points south and have
Riley back home with us. It's very delightful. If you'd open your Bibles with
me to Ephesians chapter one, we're going to continue our study
through the book of Ephesians this morning. Before we begin,
let's bow before our Lord together. Our Father, how thankful we are
that you have given us another opportunity to meet together
with our brothers and our sisters and open your word to read it,
study it. Father, I pray that this morning
that you would be our teacher, that you'd send your spirit upon
us and you would take your word and apply it to the hearts of
each one here this morning. Father, how I beg of you that
this morning you would show us your redemptive glory in the
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you'd show us your glory,
Father, give us eyes to see, eyes to see the Lord Jesus Christ
and cause us to run to him. Father, how thankful we are for
a savior who is successful, who has successfully, completely
put away the sin of his people, and how thankful we are that
you've sent this message, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ
to us. We thank you for the faith to
believe it, to see it, and Father, I pray that you give us the faithfulness
to continue preaching Christ and Christ alone. What we pray
for ourselves, we pray for our children's classes, and we pray
for your people, Father, wherever they meet today, cause your gospel
to run well, for your glory and the good of your people. All
these things we ask in that name which is above every name, the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For his sake and his glory, we
pray, amen. All right, I've titled the lesson
this morning, The Blessing of Election. Our lesson begins in
verse three, where Paul says, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. 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. Now our text begins
with a comforting truth. God the Father has blessed his
people with every spiritual blessing that there is. He has not withheld
one blessing, not one from his people. And he's made it real
easy to find. He's put them all in one place.
He's put them all in his son. Now, whatever it is you need,
go to Christ. It's in him. It's all in him.
He holds, God holds nothing back and gives all these blessings
to his people. And many of them are listed in Ephesians chapter
one. And it is my intention to take
my time and look at one or two of these blessings each week
in look at them in some detail. The blessing we're going to look
at this morning is the blessing of divine election. Now it's
important to see, as I told you, the father put all these in one
person, in one place, so that they would be easy to find. All
these blessings are in Christ. They're in Christ because they
are the result of Christ's work for his people. They've all been
purchased by the blood of Christ sacrifice. So they're all in
him. Look how many times the Paul
tells us here, these things are in Christ. If the, in the end
of verse three tells us he's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in him, verse five, having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Verse six, to the praise
of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted, where?
In the beloved. Verse seven, in whom we have
redemption. Verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ. Verse 11, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance being predestinated. According to the
purpose of him we work with 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 he also trusted after that you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Paul
says here, we're going to get to this in a number of weeks,
but he says, in whom you trusted, you didn't believe a set of doctrines. You didn't believe just a, uh,
religious message, you believed in Christ. See, all these things
are in Christ, which is why I tell you so frequently, go to Christ,
look to Christ, depend upon Christ. They're all in him. So like I
said this morning, I want to look at this blessing of election. Paul tells us that the father
has blessed us by had chosen us in Christ. Now, first of all,
I think it's important to tell you what election is not. Election
is not God looking down through the telescope of time and seeing
people who would choose him so he chose them. That can't be. And I'll show you that in Psalm
14. God didn't choose good people
to save. He didn't choose people who would
choose him. God chose to save dead sinners. Psalm 14 verse two. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. God did look down through the
telescope of time, didn't he? He did look down on all men who
would ever live to see if there were any that did understand
and seek God. And this is what God saw. They're
all gone aside. They're all together become filthy.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. So when God looked
down on all men, this is what he saw. All men are sinners. None of them would ever choose
God. So if God's gonna choose anybody
to save, it's got to be sinners, doesn't it? It's got to be sinners
who can't do anything to save themselves, to make themselves
more savable. They can't do anything to get
God to save them. to save sinners. Now that's the blessing of election. It's a blessing to you if you're
a sinner. The people that don't like election,
I'll tell you why they don't like the truth of election. They
don't think that they're a sinner. That's exactly why. The Father
didn't choose a people because they were holy, because they
were better than somebody else. Our text says God chose a people
that we should be holy without blame before him in love. God
chose a sinful people so he could display his glory when he made
them holy. They weren't born into this world
that way. God chose them to make them holy. Now again, if you're
a guilty sinner, if you see your sin, you see yourself as vile
and guilty, that's a blessing. That's good news that God chose
to save sinners. And here's another accusation,
if that's what you want to call it, or objection to this truth
of election. People say, well, the father
elected some people to heaven and some people to hell. No,
sir. God didn't have to elect somebody
to go to hell. We do a fine job of that all on our own. If God
wants to send a man to hell, all he's got to do is leave him
alone. The only way any sinner ever could be saved, that we
be made holy, that we be made without blame before the holy
God But the only way we would ever choose to be saved on God's
terms is if God chose us first. He had to choose us first. So
that's what election is not. Now I wanna look and see what
does the Bible say election is? Well, number one, election always
has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what Paul tells
us. The father chose a people in
Christ, in Christ. Look back at Isaiah chapter 42. Christ, the son of God, is God's
first elect. The father elected. He chose
a savior to save his people. He chose a people and put them
in his son and he trusted his son to get the job done. Isaiah
42 verse one. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect. He's, he's speaking here of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is God's first elect in
whom my soul delighted. I put my spirit upon him. He
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. The father elected
a savior to save his people. And he said, he's going to do
it. He shall bring forth this judgment, this salvation to the
Gentiles. Wonder why do you say specifically
the Gentiles there? So we know, that almighty God
chose to save the worst of sinners and his son came and did it.
Now that's a blessing. When the father chooses a people
and put them in his only begotten son, the son of his love, apply that not to the innumerable
multitude that God chose. The father chose and the son
said, apply that just in your heart. to you personally. To think almighty God specifically
on purpose chose me and put me in his son. So that when he sees
me, all he sees is his son. That's a blessing. All right,
number two. Election is a loving doctrine.
People who don't know any better, they always present this this
way. that the doctrine of election is mean and hard. And anybody
who believes it, anybody who preaches it, is mean and hard. I'll tell you why they think
the doctrine of election, the truth of election, is mean and
hard. It's because they think they
deserve a chance. They think they deserve a chance to be saved.
And here's why they think they deserve a chance. They think
they're good enough to earn it. They think they're good enough
to do something to get God to save them. They think election
is mean because they mistakenly think they have the ability to
decide to let Jesus into their hearts. They think they have
the ability to decide to believe on Christ. And that's not so. The car of mine's inmaty against
God. It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can
it be. And if you talk to people long
enough, This is an accusation that you'll hear. They'll say,
well, if what you're saying is true, election means that there's
some sinner who will want to be saved, who will want to come
to Christ, who will want to be washed in the blood of Christ,
who will want to be forgiven in the blood of Christ, and they'll
come to Christ and he'll say, nope, sorry, your name's not
anywhere here. You're one of the elect, so I won't show mercy
to you. Now you write this down, that
will never happen. That will never happen. The only
way anyone will come to Christ wanting to be saved on God's
terms is this reason, God elected him first. And he put a new want
to in their heart. He gave them a new nature that
needs Christ, that comes to Christ because they're a sinner who
needs a savior. And when they get there, you
know what they're gonna find out? God chose me first. I loved you with
an everlasting love. I loved you before time began.
That's why I drew you to me. You're here, not because you
decided to, but because I drew you. That's what they're gonna
find out. That's a loving doctrine, isn't
it? Look at Deuteronomy chapter seven. Deuteronomy chapter seven. In verse seven, the Lord set his love on somebody,
but look what he says here. The Lord did not set his love
upon you or choose you elect you because you are more number
than any people for you're the fewest of all people. But because
the Lord loved you, because he would keep the oath, which he
had sworn under your fathers, has the Lord brought you out
with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of the bondman.
from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. God chose a people
because he loved them. Because the holy God has the
capacity to do something you and me can't do. God loves sinners. Now you and me, we're so self-righteous,
we look down on people that we think are more sinful than us
and we just can't bring ourselves to love them. Almighty God loves
sinners and he chose them. He chose to save them. The word
chosen that he uses here, the word means to choose out for
oneself. God chose a people out for his
glory and his pleasure, his pleasure. It pleased the father to make
those people holy and righteous without blame before him in love.
He chose out of people that in other places in scripture he
calls a peculiar treasure. He chose them out. for his enjoyment. That's a loving doctrine. If
somebody gets the impression that we're being mean and hard
in preaching this truth of election, somebody's doing something wrong.
This is a loving doctrine. What amazing grace that the father
would set his love on vile, guilty sinners like you and me. That's
a blessing. Number three, election. is a
gracious doctrine. Now the election of God's people. The father, he chose a people
to save. Tell you what that means. Salvation is all of grace and
none of works. That's what it means. And if
you're a sinner, you love to hear that. That salvation is
by grace. It's all of God's doing from
beginning to ending. And you know why a sinner loves
to hear salvation's by grace? It takes all the pressure off.
I don't have to be good enough for God's sake. Actually, I have
to be sinful enough. Salvation by God's grace means
this. I can rest in Christ because
he's perfect. He's accomplished a perfect salvation
for his people. He's perfect and I'm not. So
I can rest in him. That's what salvation by grace
means. Salvation is a decision. People talk about, well, you
gotta make a decision. Well, salvation is a decision, all right, but
it's God's decision. Salvation is a work. People say,
well, you gotta work. You gotta work to earn it. You
gotta work to keep it. Well, salvation's a work, but
it's not your work. It's the work of God. It's the
work of God for you and in you. When did Paul say God elected
a people into salvation? When did this happen? Did he
elect a people unto salvation after they did something good?
No, sir. It happened before the foundation
of the world. God elected a people before they
were ever created, before they ever had a chance to do anything
good or evil. Now God knew the only thing they'd
do is evil, but God chose them anyway. Look at Romans chapter
nine. It's the very same reason God
loved Jacob, and hated Esau. It wasn't because of what those
boys would do. It wasn't because of some inherent nature on their
part. It was simply God's choice, because
he would. Romans 9, verse 10. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, for the
children being not yet born, either having done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand.
Not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her,
the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. God's election has nothing to
do with our goodness, has nothing to do with our works, has nothing
to do with anything about us. It's all according to God's very
will. It's all God's purpose and God's decision. And the election
of a people, if God, I mean, doesn't this just stand to reason,
if God's gonna choose to save sinners, he had to choose them
by his grace. A sinner can't be saved any other
way, can they? Look over at Romans chapter 11. Even so then, at this present
time also, there's a remnant according to the election of
grace. Why are there believers on earth
right now? I mean, all the way back, if
you wanna go all the way back to Adam, if you wanna go all
the way back to Israel, if you wanna go all the way back to
the apostles, why has this message still prosper, still go out and
save God's people? Why are people still believing
this message after all these years? It's because even now
there's a remnant according to the election of grace. because
God graciously chose a people to save. Look at 1 Corinthians
1. I'm trying to drive home this point.
God didn't choose anybody because they're good. No, God chose sinners
to save. Verse 27, 1 Corinthians 1. But
God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. And God hath chosen, he's elected
the weak things of the world to confound the things that which
are mighty and base things of the world and things which are
despised. That's who God has chosen. Yay. And things which are not to bring
to not the things that are that no flesh should glory in his
presence. If election is all of grace,
this is an election of grace of people that do not deserve
it. Then I'll tell you what we're going to have to say. No flesh
is going to glory in his presence. If God saves his people by grace,
he's the one that gets all the glory. And that's what we're
trying to do here this morning, isn't it? To worship him, to
praise him. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Romans chapter 8. Election is a justifying gospel,
or a justifying doctrine. Now, the father elected a people,
but that's not salvation. That's not salvation. Christ
had to come and justify those people by his blood. Look at
Romans 8 verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justify it. Now,
the word justified means being made without sin. Lord Jesus Christ is without
sin. He came and worked out a perfect
obedience to God's law as a man. Now, you know, obviously the
son of God inherently is holy and righteous, isn't he? But
he became a man. The son of God became a man so
that he could be the representative of his people and do for us what
we could never do for ourselves. He obeyed the law perfectly.
That's how he made his people perfect. Adam made us sinners.
by one act of disobedience, didn't he? Christ made his people righteous
by his perfect obedience to the law. But something's got to be
done with our sin, doesn't it? We still committed, something's
got to be done with it. So Christ, in love for his people, took
the sin of his people into his own body upon the tree. He made
that sin his sin. He took it away from his people
and made it his. And he suffered and died under
the wrath of his father to pay the debt and put that sin away.
And he justified his people. If you believe on Christ, you
still have a sin nature, absolutely. But you have a second nature
that's justified, that is without sin and can never sin. See, the father, remember when
he created Adam, he created all the animals and he created the
garden, he created the whole world. He put Adam in the garden.
And all the animals had a mate, didn't they? There was male and
female. Adam, there was just a man. There was no female, the
human race. And the Lord saw it's not good
for Adam to dwell alone, so he made a helpmate for Adam. The
Lord made Adam a bride so he wouldn't be alone. Well, in the
same way, the father saw his son, and he saw It's not good
that my son dwell alone. He's so glorious. He's so wonderful. He's the glory of heaven. It's
not good that he dwell alone. So the father chose, he elected
a bride for his son. The father was so delighted in
his son. You know what he said? I want
to make a bride for my son. I'm going to choose her. I'm
going to make her just like you. I'm going to populate heaven
with a people I've made just like my son. He delights me so
much. I'm going to fill heaven with a people made just like
him. That's why Christ came to justify
his people by his blood. Look at Ephesians chapter five, verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave 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. Thank God for
his electing love. The result of that is Christ
came and made his people just like him. perfectly righteous
and holy. All right, here's the fifth thing. Election is a keeping, preserving
doctrine. Now the only way salvation can
be sure, the only way we can't lose it, is if salvation began
with God's election of a people. If salvation depends on my choice,
more than likely, I'm gonna change my mind at some point. If salvation
could be earned by our works, salvation couldn't be sure, could
it? Cause we would never know if we did enough, but election
is in Christ and God can't change. Christ cannot change. That's
why his people will never be cast out because he cannot change. He's already perfected his people.
He's already justified them. There's no reason for the father
to cast him out. And the father can't change his
mind. Because God can't change. God's immutable. And that's all
that is, is a great big religious word that means God can't change. And since God can't change, he'll
never cast out the people, which he foreknew. Look at it, Matthew
chapter 24. Boy, you think with all the All the sin
that's in us. All the sin and false religion
that's in the world. I don't know, are we gonna go
off on a tangent? Are we gonna go off following
something that's not true? Well, no we won't. Not if the Father
elected us, we won't. He'll preserve those people that
He elected. Look at Matthew 24, verse 24. For there shall arise false Christs
and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders
insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. If it were possible, they would,
but it's not possible. It's not possible, not because
we're so smart, not because we're so faithful, not because we're
so deeply entrenched in the truth of Christ. We can't be deceived
into following an idol. A believer cannot be deceived
into following false religion because God won't let them be
deceived. The father's holding them in
his hand, and he's not letting them leave. If the father elected
you unto salvation, he'll preserve you to the end, regardless of
how many false Christs and false prophets there are in the world.
Despite the fact that our flesh would follow a line of heartbeat,
he won't let you. It's a preserving doctrine. And
the last thing is this, election is a motivating doctrine. And
we know God elected a people unto salvation. Christ came and
he died for God's elect, and only for God's elect. And everyone
for whom Christ died, they're justified. And the Holy Spirit's
gonna come. He's gonna give them faith in
Christ through the preaching of the gospel. Somebody's gonna
preach Christ to them, and they're gonna say, that's the Savior.
That's the Savior I need. The Spirit's gonna give him faith
to believe that. I know that. I know not one of God's elect
can possibly perish. Well, people say, well, I believe
what you believe. I wouldn't preach. That's the
very reason I do preach. I wouldn't waste my time preaching.
If I had taught people in doing something, y'all know my brother
is an insurance salesman. I'd tell him I'd starve to death
if I had to do what you do. I'm a horrible salesman, horrible. But if all we've got to do is
proclaim Christ, who he is, what he's done, why he did it, where
he is now, just preach his glory, God's elect are gonna be drawn
to that like a moth to the flame. The spirit is gonna irresistibly,
they just can't help it. And they're not gonna, they're
just, you think about this, if God didn't choose a people to
save, would you bother praying and asking God to save someone?
If I didn't know God elected a people to save, what motivation
would I have to pray and ask the Lord to save me? What motivation
would we have to pray and ask the Lord to save our lost loved
ones, our friends and our neighbors? What motivation would we have
to do that if we didn't know God chose a people to save? Lord,
you chose a people to save me. Save those here that don't, Lord,
you chose a people to save us. You know, understanding the truth
of election, that God has a people from every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation under heaven. Do you know that's what made
Walter Gruber go to Mexico? He gives us a missionary spirit. That's why the Apostle Paul told
Timothy, I do all things, I endure everything that I've endured
for the elect's sake. I'm out there on the trail, God's
sheep. And I tell you, I don't know who they are, but I tell
you how they're gonna be revealed The Holy Spirit's going to give
him faith in Christ when he preaches the gospel. So Paul said, I'm
going to go everywhere I can, everywhere the Lord opens the
door to preach the gospel, because he's got much people. Remember,
Paul was going to leave whatever city it was he was in. The Lord
said, no, no, you stay right here, and don't you worry about
this. I have much people in this city. Well, how did Paul know
who they were? They preached Christ, and they
believed him. See, it doesn't make us fatalistic at all. It
gives us motivation to preach Christ to our generation. So let me give you this in closing.
God chose a people, and he did it to glorify himself. Look back
at our text, Ephesians 1. God chose a people to glorify
himself, to glorify all of his attributes, his wisdom, his justice,
his grace, his mercy, and his love, his holiness, to glorify
all of his attributes by choosing to save the worst of the worst,
and then send his son to save him. It seems impossible that a sinful
people would be holy and without blame before the all-seeing eye
of God, doesn't it? Yet God did it. He made those
people holy and without blame before Him in love. And when
God wraps this whole thing up, all of creation is going to see
what God has done for His people and they're going to praise Him.
They're going to praise His grace. They're going to praise His wisdom.
They're going to praise the power of God that He would save such
a sinful people. The reason God did all this is
verse six, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he
hath made us accepted in a beloved. Now, since all this is true, do you know you cannot preach
the gospel without preaching the truth of election, without
preaching God's electing love? Some people say, well, yeah,
you know, it's true, but now don't, Don't preach that right
off. You'll scare somebody off. Just tell them about the love
of Christ, and about the blood of Christ, and about the grace
of Christ. Just preach this sticky, sweet
message. Don't say anything about justice.
Don't say anything. And then later on, kind of sneak
election in on the back door. Well, I disagree. What was the very first thing
Anna and I preached to Saul of Tarsus? Election. Brother Saul, the God of our
fathers has chosen you. Very first thing. How did Paul
begin his letter here to the church at Ephesus? With election. He gave him a greeting and he
just burst right into praising God for his electing love. I'm
just convinced of this. We begin preaching the gospel
by preaching the truth of election because that's where it all began.
Everything we believe is built upon this foundation. God is
God. He elected a people to save and
he's gonna save them. And if you try to deny God's
electing love, you're denying the whole gospel. Because if
you deny God's electing love, his right to be merciful, to
me will be merciful. His right to love whom he will
and hate whom he will, you're denying the very character of
God, aren't you? If God's election of a people
is true, then God is God. He's absolutely sovereign, doing
as he will, when he will, and what he does is right, and he's
also merciful and just. The election of God's people
makes God the savior of sinners. But if you try to deny election,
tell you what you do, you make man responsible for salvation,
and it makes God a bystander. It makes God a bystander to his
greatest glory in saving his people from their sins. I mean,
that's just too absurd to waste any time talking about. You cannot
preach the gospel without preaching this truth of election. And I
thank God for his electing law, not the way men try to define
it, but the way he's defined it in his word. That's a blessing,
isn't it? All right, oh, glory bless that too.