Alright, let's open our Bibles
first, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 1. My text this evening is Psalm
65, but I want us to look first at a few verses in Ephesians
chapter 1. I titled the message, Blessings from Election. I took the title from the beginning
of verse 4 in our text where Davis says, Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest. Blessings from election. Now
there can be no doubt from any honest reading of God's word
that every blessing that God has for a sinner began with and
flows from his election of a people, his electing love. God does not
begin to bless a sinner because that sinner decides to accept
Jesus as their personal savior. God does not bless a sinner because
that sinner is able to live a more moral life than someone else.
God blessed his people with every blessing that he had for them
when he elected them to salvation. I can show you that in Ephesians
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He's blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. He's already done it. Now, when
did that happen? Verse four says, according as,
and that literally translated means when. When did he bless
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places? When he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. Every blessing that
God has for a sinner was given to them when he elected those
people unto salvation. That tells me that God does not
start loving a sinner when that sinner comes to know Christ,
when the Spirit comes and actually gives that sinner faith to believe
Christ. That's not the moment that God
begins to bless that sinner. A sinner comes to know Christ
and believe on Him because God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ
to and gives saving faith to all of the people that God elected
into salvation. That happens because of God's
electing love. Verse 9, Ephesians 1. having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." God purposed
this in himself in eternity when he elected a people. In the fullness
of time, the Spirit comes and gives every one of them life.
It's because God chose them. And he tells me this, that God
did not even start loving his people the moment that Christ
died for them. Christ died for God's elect.
because God eternally loves those people, and he sent his son to
die for them. That's what he tells us in verse
five. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ 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 in the beloved, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. We have that because of what
God began in eternity when he elected a people under salvation.
And every other blessing that God has for his people comes
from his electing love. All right, now turn back to our
text, Psalm 65. In Psalm 65, in these first four verses, David
lists seven blessings that flow from God's electing love to his
people. And the first one is this, the people that God elected
under salvation will praise God. Now they'll praise him knowingly,
they'll praise him willingly. They'll know what they're praising
him for, then they will be enabled to praise him. Verse one, Psalm
65, praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion. God's people,
wherever you find them, will praise the Lord. They'll praise
the Lord for his electing love. Because I know this, left to
my own sinful nature, I never would have chosen God. Left to
my own self, I never would choose to be saved God's way through
his son. I never would have done it. I
would have been an eternal rebel, an eternal enemy against God. But God, in great mercy and grace
and love, chose to save me anyway. I praise God for that, can't
you? And then God's people praise him for redemption that's in
Christ Jesus. How we praise God for righteousness
in Christ, through Christ obedience. We never could have earned it
by our obedience to the law. The only way we can be made righteous
is in Christ. And we praise God for the redemption
that's found in the blood of Christ. Christ shed his precious
blood. He gave his life to pay a debt
that his people could never pay. Oh, we praise God for redemption
that's in Christ. And God's people praise God for
eternal life given to them in the new birth. God has elect
people, but they were born dead, dead in sin. And we're unable
to give ourselves spiritual life. Any more than a corpse in a casket
can get up and walk out and decide not to be buried, we cannot get
up and give ourselves spiritual life. The only way we'll ever
have life is if God gives it to us. And God the Holy Spirit
comes and he gives birth. new birth to a new spiritual
man who has eternal life. And that new man, he knows Christ,
he sees Christ, he loves Christ, he believes Christ, and he praises
Christ for the life that God's given him. We couldn't have life
any other way. And we praise God for his keeping,
preserving power. Even after the Lord saves us,
we know this, a believer knows he cannot keep himself. We would
leave Christ in a nanosecond if he just lift his finger off
of us. Now we know that. And the only way that we won't
leave him is he won't let us leave him. He keeps his people
by the power of his grace. Peter in 1 Peter 1 verse 5 described
believers this way, as those who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. The Lord Jesus Christ will not
lose one person for whom He died. He's going to keep them all.
He's going to preserve them all. And ultimately, He'll bring them
to glory. We can praise Him for that, can't
we? His keeping power. But I thought this is interesting.
David says, praise waiteth for thee. And that literally translated
is praise is silent before God. Or it could be translated that
praise is silent before thee. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it means this. Our praise is silent compared
to the praise that God deserves. It's just not much, is it? It's
silent compared to what God deserves. And many times, you know what
the best praise is? The best praise is sitting in
silent awe before God. You're just so awestruck by the
majesty of His person. that you're just awestruck that
He'd be gracious and merciful to a sinner like you. And you
just can't even form words. It's just silent awe. It's many
times the best praise. Or we find this, that our praise
is in the heart, but the lips just can't truly express it. Now, we still try. We're told
to praise the Lord. We still try. But it's hard to
get out of the lips and really express what's in that new heart
God given us in a new birth. Praise is silent before thee.
And whether it's verbal or silent, God's people praise it. All right,
here's the second blessing. Because of God's electing love,
the vow will be performed. He says at the end of verse one,
and unto thee shall the vow be performed. Now this vow, I've
done some reading on this this week, and often I'm disappointed
in some of the things that I read. This vow, is not the believer. Vowing to believe Christ. This
is my vow. I vow to believe Christ. I will
faithfully follow Him and serve Him. Now, we will do that as
much as the Lord enables us to do. But you can't find a believer
who can tell you that I do that like I should do it. Or even
like I want to do it. And thankfully, thankfully, our
salvation does not depend upon us keeping this vow. That's not
what this is talking about. I'll tell you what it's talking
about. This is the vow of the covenant of grace. Believers
are under a covenant. This is the vow of the covenant
of grace, the vow made between the father and the son. In eternity,
the father elected a people to save, and he vowed that he would
save those people through the obedience and sacrifice of his
son. He vowed that he would accept
those people in his son. And the son made a vow. He vowed
to do everything it took to save his people from their sin. He
would be made a man. He would be made an embryo in
the womb of a virgin. He would be born a helpless baby. He would grow up under the law,
under the rule of parents, under the rule of that whole mosaic
economy. He would grow up under that.
And he would obey the law. He would obey it so perfectly
he'd honor it and he'd magnify it. He'd keep it in every jot.
in every tittle and not just outwardly, but with joy, willingly
from the heart. He vowed to humiliate himself
to become flesh so that he could be the representative of his
people who were in the flesh. And he vowed that he would make
those people righteous by his obedience for them as their representative.
He would give them his obedience to make them righteous. And he
vowed that he would go to the Calvary's tree and be the sacrifice
for their sin. He vowed to willingly be made
sin for those people and suffer and die under the wrath of his
father to put that sin away. See, this vow is performed. We
can take a lot of vows and I don't think there's a believer here
that intends not to follow the Lord, that intends not to serve
him, that intends not to follow him. We don't intend that. But
we're not going to keep that vow, are we? Let's be honest.
Well, this vow is a vow that's performed. It's performed by
God. And get this now, that vow is
also performed to God. It's performed by God. And it's
performed to God. This vow is performed to satisfy
God and enable God to be just when he justifies the ungodly.
Now the elect, they receive all the benefits of this vow being
performed, but it's performed to God. The blood is offered
to God. Now God elected a people into
salvation and he vowed to save those people. Now there is no
possibility of him not keeping his vow. Not a possibility. God's
purpose in electing a people will be successful. Those people
shall be saved. And they're going to be saved
because the covenant's fulfilled. The vow has been performed to
God that enables Him to save those sinful men and women who
He chose. He can now save them in justice because the vow's
been performed. It's been performed for them
to God. All right, here's the third thing. Since God elected a people to
save, He will hear their prayers. Look what He says in verse 2.
O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Now,
every child of God should be known as a man or a
woman of prayer, shouldn't we? The way we commune with our heavenly
father is prayer. We bring our needs before God
in prayer. We offer our thanks to him in
prayer. One of the ways we can praise
God is in prayer. Now, those who don't know God
say, well, I wouldn't bother praying if I believed in election.
If I believed in predestination like you believe, why, I wouldn't
bother to pray because God's going to do his will anyway.
I wouldn't bother to pray. Well, God's people don't feel
that way. The best motivation that God's elect have to pray
is God promised he would hear them when they pray. And more
than that, God has promised that the prayers of His people will
not be vain, they will not be powerless, and they will not
be empty. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man avails much, doesn't it? Look at Isaiah chapter
45. Here's God's promise. God will
perform His purpose, His will, absolutely He will. Isaiah 45. Verse 11, but he tells us, now
pray about this. Verse 11, Isaiah 45, thus sayeth
the Lord, the holy one of Israel, his maker. He says, ask me of
things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work
of my hands. Command you me, ask me, I have a will. Now you
ask me what it is in prayer. In verse 17, he says, Israel
shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, ye
shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end." God's will
shall be done. His elect shall be saved. And instead of making his people
say, well, I'm not going to bother to pray, this is what drives
his people to pray. Look at verse 19. I've not spoken
in secret in a dark place of the earth. I said not under the
seed of Jacob. The seed of Jacob is God's elect.
God chose Jacob. He loved Jacob. He hated Esau.
I said not unto my elect, unto the seed of Jacob seek ye me
in vain. I, the Lord, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, ye that are
escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that set
up the wood of their graven image. And pray unto a God that cannot
save. Tell ye and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel
together. Who hath declared this from ancient
time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? And
there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Now
look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for
I am God, and there is none else. I said not unto the seed of Jacob,
seek ye me in vain. God's going to accomplish his
will. His people shall be saved, but he's told his people pray. And he said, it won't be in vain. You're not going to seek God
in vain. You won't pray to God in vain. I've told you this before. God is a God of means. Now, God has an eternal will,
an eternal purpose, and prayer does not change that. But every
time God's getting ready to do something, he puts it in the
heart of his people to pray for him. And then he does it. He
will answer the prayers of his people. And God has a people
from all over the earth, and God hears them when they pray. When they cry to Him, He hears.
They ask for salvation, and He gives it. They ask for forgiveness
of sins, and He gives it. They ask for mercy and grace
to help in time of need, and He gives it. They offer their
praise unto God in prayer, and God hears it and accepts it.
He will hear the prayers of His people. All right, fourthly,
God purges the sin of his elect people. Verse three, iniquities
prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. Now God's elect are born just
like every other son of Adam. They're born dead in sin. There's
no difference in our flesh whatsoever. God's elect have a sin nature,
the nature of Adam. It can do nothing but sin. They're
sinners by birth, sinners by choice, and sinners by practice.
And their sin would damn them if God left them alone. That
sin must be dealt with. And by nature, they don't fight
against sin. And even if they did want to
fight against it, which they never do, but suppose they did,
they could never prevail. You know, sin nature does not
want to fight against sin, certainly can't prevail against sin. God's
elect are just like every other son of Adam in the flesh. They
have no strength against the controlling power of sin. They
cannot stop sinning. They have no strength against
the damning power of sin. They can't stop being guilty. They can't stop themselves from
being condemned because of their sin. They're powerless against
sin. They're powerless against the
effect of sin in these bodies. We watch our bodies. As you get
older, you watch your body lose its elasticity. We're talking
about that today. Your skin loses its elasticity.
It doesn't bounce back like... None of your body bounces back
like it used to. It starts to creak and groan
and fall apart and things fall off of it. We're powerless to
stop that. I mean, try as you might. You
can't stop it. And if left in their seat, God's
elect would be eternally separated from God. God cannot accept anyone
in their sin. But God chose to save those people. Knowing the sinners that they'd
be, He chose to save them. Now He's not going to leave them
in that state. He's not going to leave them in their sin. He's
not going to leave them under the power of sin. So not only
does God forgive their sin, He purges their sin. so that it's
not there anymore. He takes away every reason that
would cause him to be separated from his people by purging their
sin away. Now, this is something that many
of us have heard many, many, many times. Election is not salvation. Election is unto salvation. In order for a sinner to be saved,
there must be a sacrifice. There's got to be a sacrifice,
a blood sacrifice that puts away sin. And there must be faith
in Christ. God's got to give faith in Christ.
See, God chose a people, but in order for them to be saved,
their sin had to be purged away. And the only way their sin could
be purged is the blood of God's own son. And God, the Holy Spirit
comes. And he applies that blood to
the hearts of God's people. And their sin is purged. They're
given a new nature that will never sin. Their sin is gone. under the blood of Christ, and
they're given a new nature that can never sin. Well, now there's
nothing left to make God angry. Because sin has been purged.
So God not only accepts his people in mercy. He accepts them in
justice. He's removed every reason for
them to be condemned because their substitute was condemned
in their place. There's no reason for God to
reject anyone whose sin has been purged in the blood of his son,
and he never will. There's no reason for him to,
and he won't. Now that makes this obvious to
me. It's impossible for someone to perish if Christ died for
them, because their sin is purged. Is that playing from our text?
That's playing from the word of God in it. Then this is also
playing to me. Christ did not die for every
son of Adam. He didn't die to try to make
salvation possible for as many people as might decide to accept
Him. Christ only died for God's elect. Only. The sacrifice of
Christ purged the sin of everyone for whom He died. And everyone
for whom Christ shed His blood is saved. They can't perish.
There's no sin left to condemn them. But we know from God's
Word that right now there are people in hell. Now this I can
tell you, Christ didn't die for them. Christ did not die for
them. And it's not God's fault they're
in hell. They're not in hell because Christ didn't die for
them. They're in hell because of their sin. They're in hell
because of their refusal to come to Christ. That's why they're
in hell. But Christ did not die for them. If he had, their sin
would be purged and there'd be no reason for God to damn them.
See, Christ did not die for somebody who perishes in hell. for whatever
reason. If they didn't decide to accept
him, they didn't decide to let him be Lord of their life or
whatever. If that were true, salvation would be up to the
creature, not God the Savior, wouldn't it? If it was up to
us to make this decision to accept him and let him be Lord of our
life, salvation would be dependent on me, not on God. And scripture
says salvation is of the Lord from its beginning in election.
Through every blessing that flows from God's election to ultimate
glorification, salvation is of the Lord. And that leaves us
with one cry. There's just one response to
that. God saved me. Oh, God saved me. He came. I can't, but he can. God saved me. See, my sin would
prevail against me. My sin would kill me eternally. but not Christ, my mighty substitute. No. Now he died for sin, but
his death didn't bring an end to him. When this body dies,
that's the end of me. That's not the end of me. That's
the end of this flesh. That's the end of this body till
God raises it from the grave. My death will be the end of me.
But Christ's death wasn't the end of him. Christ's death brought
the end of sin. He was raised again for our justification
because the death of Christ purged wiped out all the sin of His
people. And God accepts His elect because
by the sacrifice of Christ, God made them to be what He loves.
He made them to be righteous. He made them to be sinless. Now,
what a blessing of God's election that despite my sin, despite
my background, despite my birth, God will accept me in Christ
because His precious blood purge my sin away. All right, here's
the fifth blessing. God's elect will all come to
Christ. Every one of them will come to
Christ because the Father will draw them. In verse four, he
says, blessed is the man whom thou choosest. Now God's elected
a man and that man is blessed, but there's an and there. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and cause us to approach unto
thee. Now being drawn to Christ is
a blessing. that comes from God's election
of a people. Now, no man by nature can come
to Christ. By nature, we don't have the
ability to come to Christ. And coming to Christ is simply
believing Him. No man by nature can believe
Christ. We cannot make ourselves believe
Him. And no man by nature, this is
also true, no man by nature will come to Christ because by nature
we refuse to bow. We refuse to submit. We hear
of God's terms of surrender and we refuse to surrender. No man
by nature can believe Christ and no man by nature will believe
him. Yet we also know this. There
are plenty of people who've come to Christ and believe him and
love him. Now, why did they come? Why did
this person come and this person not come? Why did they come?
These ones who've come to Christ, believing in, are they any better? Are they smarter? Are they more
spiritual than somebody else? No, they're not. I'll tell you
why they came. They came to Christ because God
draws everyone he elected to save. He draws them to his son.
I can show you that in John chapter six. John chapter 6, let's look first
at verse 35. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. So
to come to Christ is to believe him, to believe that Christ is
all it takes to save you without any help from you. But natural
man will not do that. Verse 36. But I said unto you
that ye also have seen me, and believe not. By nature, you cannot
and will not believe. But, look at verse 37, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. but should raise
it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up
at the last day." Now, how will those people that the Father
elected, how will they be raised up? How will those people that
the Father elected and gave to Christ, how is it that they'll
come to Christ? They'll come to Christ for one
reason. The Father will draw them to Christ. Verse 44, no
man can come to me except the father which has sent me draw
him. And that's the one I'll raise up at the last day. It's
written in the prophets and they shall be all taught of God. Every
man therefore that have heard and have learned of the father
cometh unto me. When the father draws them, they
come willfully. They come joyfully. because the
Father has shown them Christ. He's taught them who Christ is.
He's taught them salvation in Christ, and He draws them to
Christ. And they come running. They come
lovingly, willingly. They come in full assurance of
faith because they're coming to the Savior who saves from
sin. All right, here's the sixth blessing. God gives His elect eternal life
in the new birth. Verse 4 says, Blessed is the
man whom thou choosest, and it causes to approach unto thee
that he may dwell in thy courts. Dwell in thy courts. Now like
I told you earlier, God hasn't elected people. But they're born
dead in sin. And they've got to be given life.
They can't get life themselves. They can't make themselves live.
Somebody else has got to do that for them. So the Holy Spirit
comes and He gives spiritual life and the new birth to God's
elect. Now the new birth is not fixing
up the old flesh. That flesh is old and dead, it
cannot live. The new birth is the birth of
a new man, a new nature, a new heart that's holy and righteous,
that loves God, that believes God, that loves salvation in
Christ. That new man sees something.
He sees what the old man cannot see. He sees his sin. He sees
the sinfulness of that old man. And that new man sees, he understands,
he sees Christ the Savior and he understands Christ is our
righteousness. He is the only righteousness
that I can have. The new man sees how it is that
God can save a sinner like me and still be God and still be
just. It can only be through the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that new man, his motivation
is new. He's going to dwell in God's
courts. He's not going to dwell there
as a servant trying to earn a wage. He's going to dwell as a son. He's going to dwell as a son
in God's court. And he'll be there forever. Because
that new man will never die. He can't die. Christ has already
died in his place. Christ has already purged his
sin. There's no reason for him to die. He has eternal life.
But now the blessing The blessing of eternal life. It's not the
length of it. Because everybody's going to
live some eternal somewhere. The blessing of eternal life
is this. It's being made just like Christ. And being with Him
forever. See that new man, he's already
been made just like Christ. He's been born in the image of
Christ. He's been made a partaker of the divine nature. But he's
still in this flesh. He's got two natures, natures
that are warring against each other. But when Christ returns. All of his people are going to
be made immediately like him body and soul for eternity. It brought to be with him where
he is that we may behold his glory. Now, that's the blessing
of eternal life. That's the blessing of it that
comes from God's election. All right, here's the last thing.
God makes his elect satisfied. He says at the end of verse four,
we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple. I don't care what you do with
this flesh. The flesh can never be satisfied. No matter how much
we get, we always want more. I mean, you can't have enough
money. You can't have enough fame. You can't have whatever
it is you want. You just can't have enough of it. Jan and I,
this past week, got to spend a day and a half on the beach.
Perfect, I mean, perfect weather. Almost nobody there. Just made
it wonderful. Go to a restaurant, didn't have
to wait in line. It was just wonderful. Oh, just, oh, just,
oh, just so wonderful. And we're thankful. But you know
what we said as we're pulling out? I wish we had just one more
day. And if we had another day and
we're pulling out the next day, you know what we'd have said?
Oh, I just wish we had one more day. Never satisfied. Never satisfied. That's true
materially, physically about anything in this world. And that's
true of man's religion too. Nothing we do, whether it's in
this material realm or in some religion that we've made up,
nothing will ever satisfy us. You try all the religious activity
and religious ceremonies and different kinds of religion you
want, and I promise you, you'll always want more. You'll find,
you know, it may tickle your fancy for a short while, but
quickly, you'll want more. And you know why you want more?
You'll still be thirsty. You'll still be lacking righteousness.
You'll still be empty of salvation. There's only one person on this
earth that is truly satisfied and doesn't want more. It's the
person who believes Christ. They don't want more because
if you have Christ, you have everything. A believer doesn't
want more because they don't thirst anymore. Our Lord said,
if you drink of me, you drink of this water, you'll never thirst
again. Then they're satisfied. A believer
is satisfied. I am so satisfied with this gospel. Aren't you? I'm satisfied with
God's salvation. I'm completely satisfied with
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm glad God doesn't leave
it up to me. But if he did leave it up to me, I wouldn't want
it any other way. Because nothing is more glorious than Christ,
the son, the perfect holy son of God, saving a worthless, helpless
sinner like me by His righteousness and by His sacrifice. Nothing
is more glorious than that. And that satisfies me, doesn't
it? I don't want anything. I'm not looking for anything
else. God's elect are satisfied. That's why they dwell in thy
courts. They're not leaving because they're
not looking for anything else. The grass isn't greener on the
other side for them. They're dwelling in God's courts
because they're satisfied. They won't leave because they're
satisfied. But here's the real root of the
matter. They won't leave because God won't let them leave. Now, He's
got them in His hand. No man can pluck them out of
His hand and we can't jump out either. God chose them. God the Son died for them. God
the Holy Spirit gave them life. This is God's eternal purpose.
Well, He's not about to let them leave now. After all that, God's
not going to let them perish. And in response, they won't leave
God. They won't leave the God who
chose them. They won't leave the God who redeemed them. They
won't leave the God who gave them life either. God's people
are satisfied. They're satisfied with Christ,
and God is satisfied with them in Christ, too. Now that's a
blessing, isn't it? What a blessing to be satisfied. Everything I need. That's a blessed
man, a blessed woman. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how can we ever thank
you and praise you enough for the glorious gospel of your son?
How can we ever thank you enough, praise you enough for your electing
love to your people that moved you to send your son to redeem
them, to purge them from their sins, to send your spirit into
their hearts, to give them life, to keep them and preserve them,
to hear their prayer, to have union with them, to ultimately
bring them to be with you. Father, how can we ever thank
you? But with what meager ability
we have in this flesh, we do thank you and we do praise your
holy name. Father, it is our prayer. You
promised to hear the prayer of your people. Father, it's our
prayer that you cause your word to go forth in power, to reach
the hearts of your people, to take root in our hearts, to cause
us to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless your word
to the glory of your son, we pray. For it's in his precious
name we pray and give thanks.