Well, good morning. If you would
care to turn in your Bibles with me to Ephesians 1. As you're
turning, let me say how thankful we are to have Peggy Wooten back
with us. I'm so happy to see you're able
to be here this morning. Also, is everybody listening? Remember this now. Next Sunday,
our service is going to begin at 10 o'clock. Half hour earlier
than now. 10 o'clock. And after the service,
we're going to have the Sunday school classes for the children.
You don't have to run out. We'll give the building time
to empty out. And then we'll have about a 20-minute or so
class for the children. So you parents don't have to
wait outside too long. But I think that's going to be
a good opportunity for our children to have their classes with their
teachers. I know they have missed them.
And also, I hate to announce this, but Lord willing, I'm afraid
this may change, but Lord willing, next Sunday we'll begin a study
in the book of 1 Timothy. I have not felt led at all to
go to another book until just this week, so Lord willing, next
Sunday we'll begin a study through the epistle of 1 Timothy. Alright, Ephesians chapter 1. 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. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the
praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted
in the beloved, 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 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 that Holy
Spirit of promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, under the praise
of his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in
my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of Glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being
enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling,
and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought
in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality
and power and might and dominion in every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet and gave him to be the head
over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all." Thank God for his word. What
a precious chapter. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverend, is your matchless name. Father, how we thank you for
your mercy and your grace to your people in our Lord Jesus
Christ. How we thank you for your purpose
of redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ, which cannot fail because
He is the perfect Savior. And Father, I pray this morning
that you would give each of us here a heart of true worship. Let us this morning hear a word
from Thee. Let us hear more of Christ, our
Savior. Father, reveal, we pray, Christ,
our hearts, that we might believe Him and see Him and rest in Him. We'll never see Him. We'll never
believe Him unless you're pleased to reveal Him. And you said that
by the foolishness of preaching, you have chosen to save them
which believe. Father, we pray for a revelation of your power
this morning, blessing your word that you might save and edify
and comfort your people. We're so thankful, Father, for
this congregation that you've called together. We thank you
for answering our prayer and healing those who have have been
hurting and sick. And we pray, Father, that you
continue to watch over those who are still hurting and facing
surgery and going through different recoveries. Father, we pray for
them. Thou art the great physician.
Be with your people, we pray. Give us a heart and care to love
and pray for one another. Father, we pray for our country
at this time. We pray that you deliver us from
this virus that is gripping the world, that you'd provide some
relief for it. We pray for our country, we pray
for our leaders, that you would turn their hearts, the hearts
of the king, the hearts of all those who rule in your hand.
Father, we pray you'd turn them, turn them to good, to do good
for your people. Don't give us what we deserve,
but Father, continue to be merciful to this country, we pray. Now
all these things we ask and we give thanks in that name, which
is above every name, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Savior, more than life to me
I am clinging, clinging close to Thee Let Thy precious blood
apply Keep me ever, ever near Thy side Every day, every hour
Let me feel Thy cleansing power May Thy tender love to me Find
me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee Through this changing world below
Lead me gently, gently as I go Trusting me, I cannot stray I
can never, never lose my way Every day, every hour Let me
feel Thy cleansing power, May Thy tender love to me, Find me
closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. Let me love Thee more and more,
Till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er, Till my soul is
lost in love In a brighter, brighter world above Every day, every
hour Let me feel Thy cleansing power May Thy tender love to
me Find me closer, closer, Lord, to Thee. May Thy tender love to me. Find me closer, closer, Lord,
to Thee. Alright, let's open our Bibles
again now to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. The title of the message this
morning is, How Does God Save a Sinner? A man has come up with
a lot of crazy ideas as to how a sinner might be saved. But
if we want to find out how it is that God saves a sinner, it
would be a good idea for us to find out what God has to say
on the subject. If anybody knows how God saves
a sinner, I believe it's God. And He's told us in His Word.
And it's hard to find a more clear declaration of the gospel
in one chapter than Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter
1 is such a blessed chapter. And I don't want to just give
you an academic answer to the question, how does God save a
sinner? You know, this is exciting. This is life. You can just sense
how the Apostle Paul felt as he was writing this chapter.
He's excited. He has got a heart filled with
praise and worship. He just can't use the name God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ often enough. He is just
so excited about this. So let's look at this question.
How does God save a sinner? And I pray that we would be excited
about the answer. Now, you know, the answer to
my question is God saves sinners by His grace. Salvation is all
of grace without any of man's works. You know that answer.
And Paul tells us here exactly what kind of grace it takes to
save a sinner. Let me give you eight marks of
God's grace that saves a sinner from these first 14 verses. And
number one, God saves sinners by sovereign grace. Sovereign
grace. Verse three, Paul says, who have blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, salvation
all began in eternity before God created anything. When God
the Father blessed His people with every spiritual blessing
that there is, He gave it to them freely. Now, that's great,
isn't it? He gave them something they did
not deserve freely. The Father never blessed anybody
because they deserved it. The Father blessed his people
because Christ deserved it, because Christ earned it for his people.
Paul tells us that the Father blessed us in Christ, in who
Christ is because of what Christ would accomplish for his people.
Thank God the Father didn't give us what we would earn. He gave
his people what Christ earned for them as their representative.
Now that's grace. And this grace is sovereign grace. The Father is gracious to his
people just because he decided to do it. just because He would. That's sovereign grace. And Paul
stresses that to us throughout this passage. Look at the end
of verse 5. He says this happens according
to the good pleasure of His will. Not our will, not our decision.
This is according to the good pleasure of His will. Look at
the end of verse 9. This happens according to His
good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. And then at the end
of verse 11, this happens according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. This thing of
grace is all God's idea. It's all God's doing. It's sovereign
grace. God doesn't owe it to anybody
to be gracious to them. If God owed it to us to be gracious
to us, to give us these gifts of grace, that would be wages,
wouldn't it? It wouldn't be grace, it would
be wages. God is gracious to sinners just because God decided
to do it. That's sovereign grace. And sovereign
grace is the only kind of grace that will save a sinner. Because
sinners, by definition of their nature, can't do anything but
sin. They can't do anything to earn
salvation. See, if God gives us what we
deserve, what we earn, it's going to be death. Because the wages
of sin is death. But if God gives us grace, not
because we deserve it, but just because God decided to do it,
then we will be saved to the uttermost by sovereign grace. And I tell you, sovereign grace,
just from the will of God, makes salvation sure. Paul said, God
hath blessed us. He's already blessed us. It's
already done. God has already given all of
these blessings to his people long before they ever came along.
Because what God does is forever. And that means God's sovereign
grace, he's already blessed his people, means God's not going
to take it back. He's already blessed them. And
no one or no thing in God's creation can ever overpower God and take
away the salvation of his people. Their salvation is secure because
of sovereign grace. All right, number two, God saves
sinners by electing grace. Verse four, 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, people can
deny God's electing love and God's electing grace all they
want to. But God's election of a people
is as clear as the noonday sun in scripture. You just you all
throughout scripture, you cannot read scripture and deny God's
electing grace. Paul says here, God chose us. Now, it can't be more clear than
that, can it? This thing, it's not hard to
understand what the scripture's saying. It's impossible to believe
without God the Holy Spirit. We'll get to that in just a minute.
But the gospel's simple. God chose us. That's electing grace. And listen,
this is good news for sinners. Electing grace is for sinners. God didn't choose Good people. God didn't choose somebody because
they were less sinful than somebody else in Adam's race. God chose
to save sinners. Dead, vile, wretched, guilty,
hell-deserving sinners. God chose to save them. Not because
they were holy, but God chose a people that they might be holy.
That they might be made holy and without blame before Him
in love. In God's electing love for a
sinful people. So if a sinner would be saved,
we must be saved by electing grace. Now, if God saved you,
this is what you know. You know you never would have
chosen God unless God chose you first. And if God chose you,
then you're saved. He's already made you holy without
blame, righteous in Christ. If Christ made his people to
be holy, to be spotless, if he made his people to be a church,
a glorious church without spot or wrinkle, then we are holy. We are holy. God's people are
holy. And no sin of Adam could ever
take it away. And no sin of our own act could
ever take it away and make us unholy and cause us to lose our
salvation because sinners are saved in God's electing, choosing
grace. All right, number three, God
saves sinners by predestinating grace. Verse five, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, having predestinated us. Now,
predestination always has to do with the person. It always
has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Before anything was created,
before God created the garden and put man in it, God predetermined
to make a people who would be just like His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Father predetermined to make
a people as perfect, as holy, as righteous as the Son of God. The Father predetermined to make
a people the very righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. He predetermined they would be
made like His Son. That's what predestination is.
Now God predetermined that that would happen according to the
good pleasure of his will, his will, which is always done. Well,
then nothing that happens in time after God created man, nothing
that happens in time can stop God's will from being done. Satan
deceived Eve and Adam went into this thing. He took that fruit
and he went into it with his eyes wide open. Adam's sin and
Adam's rebellion didn't change one thing. Satan deceiving Eve
and thinking he was going to accomplish it didn't change one
thing. And after we've received Adam's nature and we come along
in our sin and our rebellion, that doesn't change one thing
either. Not one blessed thing because God predetermined his
people would be made holy and righteous in Christ. Now again,
this is what God predetermined to be done. Now God never changes
his mind. God never has to change his purpose
or switch to plan B because he found something better. When
God predestinated, when He predetermined what He predetermined before
to be done, shall be done. Because God is God. So if sinners
would be saved, we must be saved by predestinating grace. And
it's a good thing for God's predestinating grace. I'm thankful. Because
if God left it up to us to decide our destination, Every last one
of us would go to hell because we're all just like Adam. We
do the exact same thing Adam did. We go, not deceived, we
go into this thing with our eyes wide open. If we chose our destination,
we'd wind up in hell as far away from Christ as we could. But
if the father predetermined that he would make us just like his
son, the way you think the outcome is going to be, we're going to
be made just like his son. and that salvation cannot be
lost. All right, here's the fourth
thing. God saves sinners by adopting
grace. He says here in verse five, having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. Now our father Adam made his
race to be orphans, orphans who are dead and trespasses and sin.
Adam orphaned us and he left us to be the worst bunch of ragamuffins
you have ever seen. We've just been cast out into
the open field to the loathing of our person. Just exactly like
Ezekiel's baby, Ezekiel chapter 16. Just no count. Couldn't be loved by anybody
anywhere. Except God. Oh, but God came
down where we were and he chose his people to be His children. His children. He chose to make
sinners like you and me to be the very children of God. And
He blesses all of those people, all of those children, in His
only begotten Son. And they're full children. Full
children of God. He makes them all to be joint
heirs with Christ. Now, you and I can't have an
inheritance like this. We can't leave an inheritance
to our children like this. Our children would be joint heirs,
they would, they would each receive a portion, a portion, a portion
of the whole, but not going to receive the whole thing. That's
not what it means to be a joint heir with Christ, that you just
receive a portion of the whole. To be a joint heir with Christ
means this. Every child of God receives a
hundred percent. Every child of God receives it
all. That you receive everything that
Christ gives. That's what he says in verse 11. in whom also
we have obtained, it's already been given, obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated. That was God's determination
before to be done according to the purpose of him who work with
all things after the counsel of his own will. So if a sinner
is going to be saved, if we're going to receive an inheritance
from God, we must be saved by adopting grace. No, we have to
be saved by adopting grace. Because if God leaves us alone,
we're going to perish in our sins. Unless God adopts us, we
will receive no blessing, no inheritance from God. If God
leaves us alone, we'll receive an inheritance. We'll receive
what we deserve from what the nature of our father Adam gave
us. We'll receive death. Thank God
for his adopting grace, whereby he gives his children everything
that God has for a sinner. They get it all. Here's the fifth thing. The reason
that God saves sinners is to glorify himself by glorifying
his grace. Verse six, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Now God saves people by grace,
a hundred percent by grace. So that means God saves the worst
of sinners, the chief of sinners. And you know why he does that?
so that His grace will be even more amazing. People will say,
God saved him? God saved that wretch? Oh, God's
grace has to be great. See, God didn't save us so we
could brag upon ourselves. Now we need to get this through.
God did not save us so we would brag upon ourselves. So we brag
about what we know that somebody else doesn't know. God saved
his people for this purpose. So that we brag on Christ. That's
why God saved us. So we brag on God's grace. And
that's what the believer loves to do. The believer loves to
brag on God's grace. The believer doesn't say, Oh,
God saved him. The believer says, oh, God saved
me. God saved me? Thank God for his grace. His
grace must be great. God would save a rebel like me. The believer loves to brag on
God that he gave me what I do not deserve. And you know, some
people are more vocal than other people, aren't they? Some believers
think, I can't do that vocally. I can't brag on the Savior as
much vocally as somebody else can. But every believer loves
to think about God's grace. Every believer loves to think,
my soul, where would I be if it wasn't for God's grace? Where
would I be if God gave me what I deserve? Oh, I'm so thankful
for God's grace. He kept me from being what I
would be, what I could be. And in heaven, we're going to
be able to do both perfectly. Verbally and in our thoughts,
do it perfectly, eternally, praising our God and never have to stop
and never get tired of it. That's all heaven's going to
be. It's God's trophy case to display how glorious His grace
is in His Son that He'd save all these sinners. And you know,
if hearing somebody brag on God's grace doesn't just thrill your
soul now, if it doesn't get you excited, like Paul's excited
here, Well, then you're not going to much like heaven either, because
that's all heaven's going to be. It's God's trophy case to
show how great His grace is, how glorious it is. That's the
reason God saves sinners, is to glorify Himself and His grace
to His people. Then here's the sixth thing.
God saves sinners by redeeming grace. Verse 7. In whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace. Now God saves His people by grace.
But at the same time, God saves His people legally. Now this
is more than a legal transaction, but when God saves people by
His grace, He does save them legally. You see, our sin has
put a price upon our head. And God's law demands justice. God's law demands payment for
that sin. God's justice does. So if God's
going to save us, our sin must be paid for in full. See, salvation
by grace doesn't mean that God is kind and he just chooses not
to punish our sin. You know, when we're gracious
to one another, that's what that means. But that's not what it
means when God saves sinners by grace. Well, if God just said,
you know, I want to be so kind and I'm just going to choose
to ignore your sin, not make it be paid for. That would not
be legal. When God saves a sinner, God
is both gracious and just. When God forgives sin, it's legal
for Him to do it. It's right for Him to do it.
Now God's elect people, they have a price on their head. They
have a debt that must be paid by their sin, but they can't
pay it. They've got nothing to pay. So you know what the Father
did? Now this is gracious. God sent
His Son into this world as a man. Flesh and bones and when we say
that what that means is he was a real man He was just as real
of a man as you and I are God sent his son into this world
as a man and that God man He died he took the debt the sin
debt of his people and he died to satisfy the laws to man there's
got to be death for sin and He died for the sin of his people
and when he did Christ redeemed his people By His blood, He paid
the just price to God's justice for their sin. And He bought
those, He redeemed them. He bought them by His blood. Now that tells us something about
our sin. Our sin is so heinous. Our sin is so vile that the only
way that sin could be paid for is by the blood of God. That's
the only thing. You and I don't have anything
that precious to pay. The only way sin can be paid for is by
the blood of God. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ came and did. He paid the debt of his people.
He redeemed them from their sin and he can pay the price. He
can pay the price that's owed because of the riches of God's
grace, because of the riches of his precious blood. Now here's
how I know that God has fully, or that Christ has fully redeemed
God's elect. He fully redeemed them. Because
at the end of verse 6 it says, He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. He doesn't say He's made us acceptable.
He's made us accepted. The price has already been paid.
Christ paid the debt in full. And Christ paying a debt He did
not owe. Christ paying a debt that He
did not rack up. That is grace. It's redeeming
grace for guilty sinners. So if a sinner would be saved,
we must be saved by redeeming grace, whereby God's justice
is fully satisfied. Now that's the kind of grace,
redeeming grace. That's the kind of grace a sinner
like me needs. Because I could never pay for
my sin debt. All I could do is add to it.
I need to be saved by redeeming grace. Son of God would pay for
my sin, redeem me from my sin with his precious blood. Can you think of anything more
gracious than Christ dying in your place? That's redeeming
grace. All right, then seven, God saves
sinners by revealing grace. Verse eight, 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." Now, salvation by grace through
the sacrifice of Christ is the greatest display of God's wisdom
that I know of. And Paul says here, he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. God found the ransom that enabled
him to be both just and justifier. Salvation by substitution and
satisfaction. Salvation by substitution for
the sinner and satisfaction to all of God's attributes, that's
the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is on full
display in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ crucified for his people. Now that salvation is so wise,
only God could conceive of it. It's so wise that ignorant dead
man could never figure it out. It's the unanswerable mystery
as far as the human mind goes. That's why man has made up so
many crazy ways for a sinner to be saved because the natural
mind cannot conceive of this great mystery of the gospel,
how God can be both just and justifier. And God's people are
no different. They could never figure it out
either. But God reveals it to his people by the preaching of
the gospel. Salvation is the purpose of God. And the only way we'll know what
is in God's purpose is if He tells us about it. And He reveals
it to our hearts through the preaching of the Gospel. Look
back at 1 Corinthians 2. In the preaching of the Gospel
is the only way that this can be done. Someone will say, oh,
but God could have done it. You can't limit God. God could
have done it another way. Well, that's true. We better
not limit God. I reckon He could have done it another way. But
Eric, He didn't. You know, God limited himself.
He said, by the foolishness of preaching, that's how I've been
pleased, to save them that believe. It must happen. God reveals himself. He reveals Christ. He reveals
his saving grace to his people through the preaching of the
gospel. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 7. But we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery. It's a mystery to the natural
man. Even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world under our glory, which none of the princes of this world
knew, none of the smartest, best people of this world knew it.
For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of
glory. But as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man the things which
God hath prepared for them that love him. It's just not possible
to come into the heart or mind of the natural man. But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now that is grace. You know, it is grace that God
would purpose something so gracious, so kind, so wonderful to his
enemies, isn't it? And that's what every one of
us here this morning are by nature. By nature, we're God's enemies. The carnal mind is enmity against
God and God purposed something so kind, so gracious to his enemies. But it's also grace that God
would tell us about it. by revealing his son to us through
the preaching of the gospel. What a blessing it is to live
in a place where we can attend where the gospel is preached,
because that's the way God is pleased to reveal himself to
his people. That's the way that God is pleased to feed the hearts
of his people. So if a sinner is going to be
saved, we must be saved by God's revealing grace. Otherwise, we'll
never see Christ will never figure out how God saves sinners. We
would never be able to figure out the wisdom of God by our
natural mind. But God reveals that to all of
His people. And Paul says that. Look over
here at verse 17 in our text. Ephesians 1. That the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The eyes of
your understanding being enlightened. So now you see. that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the
exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe, according
to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ
when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right
hand in heavenly places." That's what God does for all of His
people. He's revealed that to us, the glory of His grace through
the revelation of Christ Jesus and what he has accomplished
for his people. Here's the eighth thing. God saves sinners by life
giving grace. Life giving grace. Now there
is God's purpose of grace. There's God's electing grace.
There's God's redeeming grace. That is all the purpose of God
for his people. But where there is a purpose
of God, there must be a fulfillment of God's purpose. Where there
is a purpose of God for His people, there must be an application
of that purpose to their hearts. So when God saves a sinner, that's
what He does. God, the Holy Spirit, powerfully
and irresistibly calls a sinner to Christ. The Holy Spirit gives
life to a new man that never was there before. He gives that
sinner spiritual life in a brand new birth. The birth of a brand
new man, a brand new heart, a brand new nature. And He gives that
sinner faith in Christ. Listen. And when that happens,
you don't need to have an altar call. You don't need to sing
55 verses of Just As I Am. You preach Christ. And God the
Holy Spirit, He gives life and faith. You're not going to be
able to stop a sinner from coming to Christ. They don't have to
walk an aisle to come to Christ. They're going to come to Christ
right where they're set and try as you might. You wouldn't be
able to stop them. Now once God the Holy Spirit moves in power,
They're going to believe. That sinner will come to Christ.
Now, you who believe, isn't that your experience? Isn't it? Why
is it that you believe Christ? Well, if you believe Christ,
this is your answer. The Holy Spirit gave you faith
to believe Christ. When you heard Him preached,
you said, I believe. That's Him and you came to Him.
Well, then we get no credit for believing
on Christ, do we? We get no credit for it at all.
The only reason we believe, the only reason we have faith, is
that God the Holy Spirit gave us a free gift of God's grace.
We don't get any credit for coming to Christ. The only reason we
came to Christ is the Holy Spirit drew us irresistibly. We couldn't
stay away. Because once we see His glory,
we have to come to Him. And the Holy Spirit giving life,
and giving faith in the heart, that is the application of God's
purpose of grace for His people. Look here at verse 12. That we
should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, what does that mean? Who
is this? What is this that first trusted in Christ? Who first
trusted in Christ? Was God the Father. God the Father. The Father in eternity. When
the Father and the Son entered into this covenant of grace,
the Father trusted Christ to do what He said He'd do in the
covenant of grace. The Father trusted Christ to
save those elect that the Father gave Him to save. The Father
trusted Him that He would come and save those people by His
obedience to the law and by His sacrifice for the sin of those
people. The Father trusted Him to do it. He trusted Him so fully
that at that time, salvation was accomplished in the mind
and purpose of God. Now, let me ask you this. If
the Father trusted Christ to save His people from their sin,
if the Father trusted Him. Don't you reckon you can trust
Him, too? God help us. If the Father trusts, I believe
I can trust Him. The Lord Jesus Christ must be
trustworthy if the Father trusted Him to save His people, to carry
out this great purpose of grace for His people. He has to be
trustworthy. Now, God saves sinners that way,
so that when God's elect are seen as saved and justified and
righteous, All of God's creation is going to see that God must
be the one to be praised for saving sinners like that. Only
God has the grace to give dead sinners life. Who else can give
life from the dead but God? Only God has that grace to give
His people life. Now, the Father is the one who
first trusted in Christ. But if we would be saved, we
must trust in Christ. Well, how does that happen? How
does the Holy Spirit give life and faith to dead sinners? How
is it that the Holy Spirit operates? You know, people talk about the
Holy Spirit and they muddy the water so much it seems very,
very, very mysterious, doesn't it? How does God, the Holy Spirit,
operate? The Spirit operates by the preaching
of Christ, by the preaching of the gospel. Look at verse 13.
In whom you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth.
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now when is it, you who believe,
when is it that you first trusted in Christ? When is it that you
received life and received faith in Christ? Well, it was when
you heard preaching, when you heard the gospel. Now when we
say that, I'm not talking about just any preaching of different
denominations, you know, of men. I'm not talking about just any
religious talk, you know. God's people believe only when
they hear the true gospel. Yes, you must believe in Jesus,
but you better hear about the right one, hadn't you? Because
scripture says there's another one. You have to hear about the
true savior in order to believe him. No one is saved. I don't care how much you like
them, I don't care how friendly they are. I don't care what wonderful
people that they are. Nobody is saved unless they've
heard and believed this gospel. This gospel. No other. No other. So here's how the Holy Spirit
operates. First, you hear the gospel. By God's grace, you hear
the word of truth. You know why you heard it and
somebody else didn't? God sent it to you. That's why you heard
it. That's exactly why. It's God's grace. And then when
you hear the Word of Truth, you believe on Christ. Well, that's
God's grace. The Spirit graciously gave you
ears to hear, to understand. He gave you a heart to believe.
That's God's grace. And then the Holy Spirit seals
you. He seals you so you can't quit
believing on Christ, so that you can't spoil. Now, how do
I know that I'm going to receive everything that God purposefully
How do we know that God's people will receive everything God purposed
for them? It's by the Holy Spirit. Look
at verse 14. Paul here's speaking of the Holy
Spirit, which is, who is the earnest of our inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. And Paul says here that the Spirit
is the earnest of our inheritance. Well, earnest, the word means
earnest money. It's like a down payment. You're
going to buy something rather expensive. You don't carry around
that much money with you. You give the person earnest money. And they hold that earnest money.
That earnest money means I'm coming back. I'm coming back
to get this possession of mine. I'm coming back with the rest
of the payment and take it home with me. Well, that is what the
Holy Spirit is to God's people. God's given his people. We're
still in this flesh. We're still in this sinful flesh.
We're still in this sinful world. We've not seen Christ face to
face yet. We're not in a perfect body yet. We're not in glory
yet. Well, how do you know you're going to get there? Because God's
giving you the earnest money. He's given you of his spirit.
And that means Christ is coming back to get everything he purchased
by his blood. He's coming back to get it. He's
going to come back and have everything that he purchased for his people,
that they all might be with him where he is, that they might
behold his glory. And the second earnestness is
also like an engagement ring. A young man gets down on one
knee and asks a young woman to marry him. And she says yes.
And he gives her a ring, an engagement ring. And it might be months
till that marriage happens. Boy, especially today, if you're
going to plan a wedding, you better get ready. You've got a lot of planning
to do. I tell fathers of daughters, you give your blessing to a young
man. Yes, you can ask my daughter
to marry you. Push for a quick wedding. Because
I'm telling you, if the wedding happens in six weeks from that
day, You're going to hear about that wedding every single day
for six weeks. But if you're going to plan that
wedding for a year, you're going to hear about that wedding every
day for a year. That is like that, let's get it down to six
weeks. If it were up to me, Christ would
come a whole lot sooner. I wish He'd come now. I'm glad
it's not up to me. You know why He hasn't come yet?
Because His purpose is not fulfilled. It's not fulfilled yet. But that
engagement, maybe it's a long time until they can get married.
And that young woman thinks, oh, she wants to be married so
fast. She thinks, is this ever going
to happen? And she looks at that ring. That rings the promise. This ceremony is going to take
place. Our life is going to be intertwined. We're going to become
as one flesh. That's the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart.
In your heart. That's God's earnest. That's
the engagement ring. Christ the bridegroom is coming
back right soon. to gather His bride to Himself. And you think,
is He ever coming? Will it ever happen? Will we
ever be made one with Christ? Will we ever be with Him? Yeah,
His Spirit. His Spirit's the earnest money
that tells you, oh, there's a wedding feast coming. The Savior's coming
to get His bride. He'll have her. They'll be together,
won't they? That's God saving, life-giving
grace. If we would be saved, God's got
to give us life. He does it by Spirit. That's
how God saves a sinner. When you look at the way God
says it in His Word, it's not quite so complicated, is it?
He saves sinners by His grace. All right, now remember, next
Sunday, 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock. Get here at 10.30,
I'll be half done. So, 10 o'clock, okay? All right,
let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we thank You for
this precious portion of Your Word that we've looked at this
morning. And Father, we beg of Thee that You'd bless Your Word
to the hearts of Your people for Your glory Father, for your
glory's sake, we pray that you'd call out your sheep. For your
glory's sake, we pray that you would strengthen the hearts of
your people, that you'd cause our hearts to be knit together
in this common purpose, this common goal of glorifying Christ
our Savior. Father, bless your people by
getting much glory to yourself through the preaching of your
gospel this morning. Father, I pray you'd bless us as we Leave
this place and go back out into the world. Prepare to go back
out to jobs and different earthly responsibilities. Father, watch
over us and protect us and bring us back again when it's time.
And until then, cause this word of grace to be sealed in our
hearts that we might be comforted and encouraged and confident
in Christ our Savior. It is in His blessed name that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.