Good morning. If you would open
your Bibles with me to the book of Ephesians chapter one, we're
going to begin a study through this epistle to the church at
Ephesus this morning. Before we begin, let's bow together
in prayer. Our father, we bow before your
throne of grace this morning. We bow with grateful and thankful
hearts. How thankful we are to come before
the God of heaven and earth. Beside you, there is none else.
And to lay out, to cry out to you, our hearts cry our praise,
our thanksgiving, and our petition. Father, how we praise you that
you're God alone. How we praise you that your will
is always done in all places. And oh, how we thank you that
your will is that your people would be redeemed by the blood
of your son, that they'd be called out by your gospel, that they'd
be given life by the power of thy spirit and kept by the power
of thy grace. One day that they would be glorified
together with Christ our Savior. Father, how we thank you. Father, we beg of you this morning
that you would enable us to worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray that you'd open your
word to our hearts enable us to see Christ and to believe
on him, to learn more of him, that we might trust him more
fully. What we ask for ourselves here in this class, we ask for
our children's classes and for your people, wherever they meet
today, Father, cause your word to run well for your glory, for
the good and edification, the salvation of your people. Father,
this is such a difficult, dark day, and I know every believer
of every generation has said the same thing, that we all feel
like we live in such a difficult and dark day. Father, in this
day, we pray that you'd show us your glory, the redemptive
glory of Christ our Savior. And Father, we dare not forget
to pray for those who are hurting and sick and need you especially,
here and in other places, thy people that you brought into
the deep deep waters of trouble and trial. Father, we pray for
them. We pray that you'd heal, that you'd comfort the hearts
of your people, and that you'd give them a special portion of
your presence. Father again, I beg of you that
you'd bless us, bless us with thy spirit as we look into thy
word. For it's in Christ's name, for his sake we pray. Amen. I've titled the lesson this morning,
The Saints of God. Now this book of Ephesians is
one of my very favorites. I often read it just for my own
enjoyment. I find such pleasure just reading
through this book. This epistle sets forth the mysterious
glories of God and the salvation of his people. It sets it forth
so clearly. If you don't believe it, it's
not because you don't understand it. It's because you just don't
believe it. This is set forth so clearly.
what this is saying. And this both teaches God's people
and at the same time it comforts our hearts. Now this letter is
written to the church at Ephesus. And Ephesus was a large, a very
wealthy, a metropolitan kind of town. It was full of business
and trade and education and the whole city was given over to
idolatry. This was the I guess, from what
I read, kind of like the center of where the worship of Goddess
Diana was in all the world. Ephesus was kind of the center
of it. They had a magnificent building built to this Goddess
Diana. And the whole city was given over to it. It affected
their religion. It affected their daily lives.
It affected their business. After the Apostle Paul had been
there preaching for a little bit, the silversmiths of that
town got together And they're trying to find a way to get rid
of this man, Paul, because people believed the Christ that he was
preaching. And as they believed the Christ
that Paul preached, well, the silversmith's business went down
because fewer people are buying these little statues, the idols
of Diana. There was a big uproar about
that. They're trying to get rid of the apostle Paul. This idolatry
was so entrenched in the daily life of the whole city. If you
want, this afternoon you can read about that in Acts 19, but
that's basically what happened. But in this idolatrous, worldly
city, Almighty God in that city had hidden away some of his elect,
some of his precious gems. The Apostle Paul went there and
preached in a very large, blessed, very blessed church was raised
up in that city. You remember before Paul was
departing for Rome, he knew he wouldn't be back. He knew he
was gonna go to Rome to die. Remember who he called together
to him? The Ephesian elders. And he talked
to them, said, you'll see my face no more. He talked to them
about preaching the gospel, about preaching Christ and staying
faithful. You know, that was a pretty good sized group of
very respected men that came from this church. This was a
large and a blessed church. But now turn over to Revelation
chapter two. We know how the church in Ephesus started. We
knew how it grew and how the Lord blessed it. But the very
last thing we read in scripture about the church of Ephesus is
in Revelation 2. Remember, the Lord had those
letters to the seven churches. And he told the church of Ephesus,
now you got plenty of works. You haven't quit. You haven't
quit believing. But he said, I've got something
against you. You've left your first love. Now, they've stayed
doctrinally straight. They didn't quit in the faith,
but they left a love and a tenderness for Christ. They lost a tenderness
for the gospel. They hadn't lost the truth of
it, but they lost the tenderness of it, the love of it. Look at
Revelations 2, verse 5. Remember, therefore, from whence
thou art fallen and repent and do the first works. or else I'll
come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of
his place, except I'll repent. Now, the Lord says, because of
this, you've left your first love. He said, I'm gonna remove
the candlestick. You remember the candlestick
is the pastors in those churches. He's gonna remove the pastor
so the gospel's not preached there in truth anymore at all.
And notice this, the Lord didn't say he's gonna extinguish the
candle. He didn't say he's going to stop the light altogether.
He said, I'm going to move it. I'm going to remove it from here
and I'm going to put it over here. He's going to raise up
a pastor. You're going to take the pastor
out of this place and raise up a pastor in a different place.
Robert Hawker said about that, the candlestick is a movable
piece of furniture. You can easily move it all around
the house, can't you? And that's what the Lord said
he do because of this lack of love and tenderness for the gospel.
I think that's a very good thing for this congregation to keep
in mind. How the Lord has blessed us.
Years and years and years. How the Lord has blessed us.
And this warning should make us pray. Not only, Lord, keep
me doctrinally straight. Keep me faithful. Lord, give
me a heart that's tender. A heart that's tender for Christ.
Give me a heart that loves Christ, keep me with an understanding
of how dependent I am upon the Lord, so I stay at his feet.
I've seen many people fall into this trap. They know sound doctrine. They know true doctrine. And
from every evidence I could see, I know that they believe Christ,
they trust Christ. But they get so caught up in
knowing this sound doctrine and somebody else doesn't, that they
seem to start depending on their knowledge of sound doctrine rather
than trusting Christ, rather than having a love for the Lord. And when that happens, that's
when the Lord removes the candlestick from one place to another. Now
that is the congregation that Paul is writing to. Now look
back at our text, Ephesians 1. Verse one. 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. Now Paul says he's writing
this letter to the saints, which are at Ephesus. And many of us
might think, well, this letter's got nothing to do with me. I'm
not a saint. But you know, if you believe
Christ, you are. Every believer is a saint. It's not just a very
special few who did some spectacular things in their life, and after
they die, we vote and decide, yes, they are saints. Every believer
is a saint. Every believer. We don't vote
on you to decide if you're a saint or not after you die. Matter
of fact, if you're not a saint before you die, you sure won't
be one after. No, every believer is a saint
right now. And the word saint, means a holy
one. It means one who's separated
to God and it means one who is worthy of veneration. Now again,
I mean, you know, if we're being honest, we think, well, that's
not me. I know that none of us are holy. None of us are worthy
of veneration by nature. I know that. But yet there are
people who believe God. Paul calls them saints. So they
are saints. My question is this, and this
is what I want to answer this morning. How does a person become
a saint? Who are the saints of God? How
does a person become a saint of God? Well, number one, a person
is a saint of God by the will of God. Paul says an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul says, I'm an apostle
and all of us are saints by the will of God. Now, all of salvation
is dependent upon the will of God. It all comes from the will,
the choice, the doing of God. Salvation is not a choice that
man makes. You'll notice I never try to
talk you into making a decision. I never try to talk you into
doing something. A believer absolutely, I don't
know if you can use the word decide or not, but a believer
absolutely of my own free will says, I believe Christ. I trust
Christ, I'm not trusting anything else. But that's because God's
already done a work in your heart. See, it's by the will of God
that he gave you a new want to, a new nature. Salvation is a
choice that God made before the foundation of the world. And
salvation is a work that God performs for us and in us. God performed a work for us when
Christ died on the cross to put away our sin, didn't he? And
the Holy Spirit performs that work in us when he causes a new
nature to be born in us that believes God. See, all of this
is by the will of God. First saints became saints by
the will of the father. When before the foundation of
the world, he chose them unto salvation. God chose the people
and it was all by his will, his will alone that they'd be saints.
See that in verse four, according as he had chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be not because
we are holy, but that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. So how do sinners become saints?
How do we become holy ones? It's by the will of God. When
he chose a people in Christ Jesus. You who believe were made holy. You are made to be a saint when
the Father chose to put you in Christ instead of leaving you
in yourself, or leaving you in Adam. He puts you in Christ and
you are holy. When Paul wrote to the church
at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 1-2, he says he's writing to them
who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. That's when you're sanctified,
when you're put in Christ Jesus and you're called, you're called
by the gospel to be saints. So saints are holy in Christ,
not by our works. See that, that holiness, that's
the doing and the will of God in it. All right, second, sinners
are made saints when Christ died for them. Look at Colossians
chapter one. When Christ washed away our sins,
We were made saints. If you don't have any sin, you
gotta be a saint, don't you? You gotta be a holy one. Colossians
1 verse 21. And you, there are sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight.
That word holy there is the same word translated saint back over
in our text. So the only way any of us can
be a holy one is if the son of God died for us and he put our
sin away. If Christ didn't put our sin
away, we can't be a saint. We have to always remain a sinner.
So our holiness is the will of God, the doing of God when he
put our sin away. Third, look at Titus chapter
three. Sinners are made saints. when God, the Holy Spirit causes
a new holy nature to be born in us. Titus chapter three, verse
five, not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy ghost,
which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior. Now holiness is not how you act. Did you get that? Holiness is
not how you act. Holiness is a nature. It's a
nature in us that has no sin and can never sin. And the only
way you and I can have that holy nature is if God the Holy Spirit
causes it to be birthed in us. And that's what he does for his
people. Now I know we still have an old nature. Every believer
knows is I've got an old nature. I've got a nature that can't
do anything but sin. You never knew that nearly as
well. You really didn't know it in
truth until you had a new man who could see the sin of the
old man. Every believer knows I've got a wicked, vile nature
that can't do anything but sin. But thank God he willed by his
will, he willed and purposed to give his elect a holy nature
too in the new birth. One day, you know what's gonna
be the will of God? He's gonna separate those two
natures. You're gonna put the old man, the flesh, in the ground,
and the new man's gonna go be with the Lord. Right now, that
new man that's born in you is able to walk right into heaven.
And we can't do it in this body and flesh, because it's so full
of sin. But when God separates those two natures, that new man
right now is qualified to walk right into the presence of the
Father, because he's holy. That was done by the will of
God. All right, number two, a person is a saint because God makes
them faithful to trust Christ alone. Paul says he's writing
to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Every saint who's been made holy
in Christ, they know Christ is their holiness. They trust him
to be their holiness. They trust Christ to be all of
their salvation. They trust Christ to be everything
the father requires of me. And they're faithful to that.
They're faithful to Christ. They're not looking for another
hope. They're not looking for any other assurance. They're
not trying to add something that they've done to Christ to make
them more holy, or more righteous, or more accepted. They simply
trust Christ. They trust Him to be everything
the Father requires of me. That's saving faith. Now, a saint,
when we look at ourselves, We don't see anything holy in ourselves. I don't see any holiness in me
whatsoever, but a believer trust that they are holy because they
believe God. They believe God's word. That's
what God says he's done. That's walking by faith, not
by sight. I can't see anything holy in
me, but I sure do believe it. So, cause that's what God says
in his word. Now saying is faithful. That
is the, Oh, it's so important to be faithful. This is what's
required of a steward, isn't it? To be faithful. I want to
be faithful. A saint doesn't have to understand,
it doesn't have to and we don't, understand all the mysterious
wonders of this thing we call salvation. The saints don't understand
how could God possibly love me. of all the people that have ever
lived on this planet, that God would choose to love me. I don't
understand that. The saints, they've been born
again, but they sure don't understand the mystery of it, do they? That's
mysterious. They don't understand the Trinity.
How can there be one God in three persons? I don't understand that. I sure do believe it. I sure
do love it. I just, what a glorious God.
I believe it, but I don't understand it. The saints don't understand God. I don't understand Him. His nature is so different from
me. I can't understand Him. God's eternal. I'm just such
a finite speck of dust. I can't understand God. I'm sinful. God's holy. I can't understand
God. I don't understand why God does
what He does. Some ask me, Breeson, why is
God doing this? I got no idea. I mean, I got
no idea. I cannot understand God. But
Sean, I sure do trust him. Honestly, I sure do love him.
I don't understand all those mysteries, but we believe them
because we believe Christ. I love this. A saint doesn't
have to understand everything. Just believe. I'll tell you,
this is a problem that we face. We try to understand it so that
we'll believe it. Quit trying to understand it
and just believe. Just believe God. That's faith. And these
people are faithful. It's not just that they had faith
once, they're faithful. You know, faith is a continual
thing. I believe God, I believe Christ,
but a saint will keep believing Christ. They'll keep trusting
Christ all the way to the end. And you know, there's several
reasons why they will keep believing Christ. Number one, God won't
let them believe anything but Christ. And number two, They
don't want any other hope but Christ. I'm not looking for another
one, are you? I'm not looking for another hope. I don't want
any other hope because there's nothing else worth believing
but Christ. So God's people, the saints,
they stay faithful. A saint believes this. Now and
all the way to the end, I'm lost in Adam and redeemed in Christ. I'm dead in Adam. I've been given
life in Christ. And I know this, I'd leave Christ
and I'd perish in a heartbeat if left up to my own will, my
own nature, but Christ keeps me from it. He keeps me by the
power of his grace. And I'm going to trust him to
do it. I want to be faithful. I keep
looking to him. But I'm not trusting on the strength
of my faith. I'm trusting on the strength
of my Savior. I mean, I'm telling you, I'm
hanging on for all I'm worth. But I'm not trusting on my strength
to hang on. I'm trusting on his strength, hang on to me. Now
that faith, that's the doing, the will and the gift of God
in it. That's how a person becomes a saint, it's by the will of
God. All right, number three, a person is a saint by the grace
of God. Paul says in verse two, grace
be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now grace is the free, undeserved,
unearned favor of God. Grace is God not giving us or
give it. Grace is God giving us what we
do not deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we deserve. Grace is God giving us what we
don't deserve. Well, I'll tell you this. I know
some things right off. I do not deserve. I do not deserve
salvation. I do not deserve mercy. I do
not deserve eternal life. I do not deserve any blessing
from God. What I deserve is eternal damnation. That's what we all deserve. But
God saves his people anyway. That's salvation by grace. Even
though they don't deserve it, God saves them anyway. I've said
this before, and I think this is a very good definition of
grace. It's anyway, anyway, in spite
of. God saves all of his people anyway,
in spite of all of our works. You know, we think we want to
bring our works to God and he'll be happy with us. God saves his
people in spite of those works. What we find out is those very
best things that we've done, that we try to bring to God,
we think that makes me good. We'll find out that's the worst
of the worst. Though that's what is a filthy rag. And we try to
bring those things to God and God saves his elect anyway. Oh, I love that. Salvation is
not because of our works. I understand that man is dead
and seen. Their mind is dark and black
and they can't understand. And if you believe in any way
that salvation is by works, It's simply because you don't believe
the plainly stated Word of God. I mean, nobody can take the Bible
and make it in any way think salvation is by works. It says
to the contrary so many times, salvation is not because of our
works, it's in spite of our works. Salvation is all by grace and
none of works, none. Grace is God's free gift. He saves us anyway. And there's
another good definition of grace here, but God. There's us, but God. Look at chapter two. And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, where
in time past, this is our nature. You walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and we were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. That's us. Here's grace. But God, but God, who's rich
in mercy, where his great love were with thee loved us, even
when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ
by grace. you're saved, hath raised us
up together, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,
for by grace are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now that's saving grace, but
God, this is what I deserve, but God, he saved me anyway. And here's the thing that makes
grace so glorious and so comforting, gives such assurance to the hearts
of God's people. God does not and he cannot show
grace at the expense of his mercy. He cannot do it. You know, you
almost, you almost, or God can't show grace at the expense of
his justice. I said that wrong, didn't I? In order to, you know,
we think, well, it'd be awful gracious if God would just overlook
my sin, just ignore my sin, kind of sweep it under the rug and
save me anyway. And I reckon that would be gracious,
but it wouldn't be true, would it? It wouldn't be righteous.
God cannot show grace at the expense of his truth and his
justice. So in order to be gracious to
his people, in order to give his people what they do not deserve,
God had to satisfy his own justice for himself. We can't satisfy
God's justice, so he did it for us. He gave Christ our substitute
everything the elect deserve so he could be gracious to us
and give us what we don't deserve. Our sin was fully punished in
the death, the suffering, Christ our substitute, the very Son
of God suffered everything we deserve so that justice would
be satisfied and God would be gracious to his people. In other
words, Christ had to die the death that we deserve. He had
to suffer the penalty that we deserve so God could be gracious
to his people and give them salvation, give to them freely, that he
could forgive their sin, because their sins already been punished.
They could give them eternal life because Christ died in our
place. They didn't deserve that by their works, did they? Christ
did that. Christ earned it by his obedience,
his suffering and his death. That's the only way God could
be holy. And still be gracious. Now that puts grace in a whole
nother league than God just ignoring my sin, doesn't it? The fact
that the father would kill his only begotten son in such a horrible
way to be the sacrifice for my sin so that he could be gracious
to the likes of me. That is the most amazing, most
glorious thing I have ever heard. And it's true. It's not a fairy
tale. That has is what God has done
for all of his saints, a grace. It's the only way they could
become saints. Thank God for his grace, right? Here's the last thing. A saint
has peace with God. Grace be to you. Verse two and
peace from God, our father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
notice the order of this. First came grace. then came peace. See that grace is the foundation
of all of our salvation. Grace is the foundation of every
blessing we ever hope to receive from God. Grace is the source
of salvation and peace with God's the fruit of it. See, that's
why grace came first, then peace. And it's easy to see where this
peace comes from because Paul tells us grace and peace come
from our Lord Jesus Christ. God's saints enjoy peace with
God. You know why? It comes from our
Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ's sacrifice
made peace for us, made peace with God. The blood of Christ
took away the sin that made God angry. The, Blood of Christ took
away the sin that demanded God's justice. Justice is satisfied
because of the blood of Christ. By the death of Christ, what's
left? Peace. The father's not angry. There's no reason for him to
be. The blood of Christ took his sin away. I know when we
go through trials, sometimes we think, this is happening to
me because God's angry with me. Worse yet, Somebody else goes
through trial and they're like, God's angry with them. Not if
they're a believer, he's not. No, he's trying their faith.
He's doing it for their good, but he's not angry with them.
He took out his anger on our substitute. What's left for his
people is peace with God. And that same blood, the blood
of Christ that made the father be at peace, when it's applied
to our hearts, when the scripture talks about the blood of sprinkling,
the blood sprinkled upon our hearts, What that's talking about
is the new birth. When scripture talks about the
blood being applied to our hearts, it means God's given us a new
heart. He doesn't take that old heart and change it, because
that old heart can't be changed. It's stone, it's flesh, it can't
ever be anything else. It can't be changed. When the
blood is sprinkled upon our hearts, applied to our hearts, it's talking
about God giving us a new heart and a new birth. And that new
heart is completely the opposite of the old one. That old heart
cannot believe God. It will not believe God. It's
not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. It hates
God. That new heart lovingly and willingly
submits to Christ, submits to Christ our King, submits ourself
to his righteousness and that heart trusts Christ. So there's
peace. The sinner's not angry with God
anymore either. We surrendered, there's no more war. Father's
not angry, and I'm not either. And that gives peace that passes
human understanding, doesn't it? If God's given you a new
heart, you know exactly what I'm talking about. You have peace
with God because you're sane. All right, Lord bless you.