If you will, turn with me to
the book of Ephesians. 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 blood, 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 has 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, 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 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. which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession under the praise of
his glory. I invite you again this morning
to turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 is what most true
ministers of the gospel called a go-to passage. No matter what your subject is,
it can be proven from this chapter. This chapter takes salvation
from eternity past to eternity future. I dare say you can read
this chapter and sit down knowing the gospel's been plainly set
forth to you hearers. Just read about the Henry read
this gospel one morning, and he was reading it slow, verse
by verse. He got to about the fifth verse,
and the deacon in that church stood up and said, that's enough.
He said, I know what you're trying to do. And he said, I ain't trying
to do anything. Oh, yes, yes, yeah, you are.
He said, I know exactly what you're trying to do. And Henry
said, well, what am I trying to do? He said, you're trying
to teach election. He said, no, sir, I'm reading
Ephesians chapter 1. He said, is election what you
got out of it? He said, that's what I got out
of it. Ephesians 1 will preach itself. And that's why I've chosen
it as my text. I could and for the most part
have preached from every verse in this chapter and nearly every
verse in the chapters that follow. This morning I hope to work my
way from verse 11 to my text in verse 13. My subject is the
spirit, the Holy Spirit of promise. Now having fully stated the eternal
election of a people in Christ, their redemption through his
blood, their acceptance in him, that is, he's their righteousness. The apostle now moves to where
God's purpose and will are revealed to the redeemed. All of these
things are fascinating. They're fascinating things to
talk about. They're fascinating things to
read in the Scripture. I first read them in the Scripture
and I was fascinated by them. I never heard anybody say anything
like that. But they didn't mean anything
to me. They were just fascinating. Beginning with verse 11, he tells
them what it has to do with you. this eternal salvation. So having fully stated election
and all these things, now he's going to tell us God's purpose
and will as they're being revealed to the redeemed. In verse 11,
he talks about himself and others obtaining an inheritance. being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. And the predestination
that he's talking about here is the same that he had stated
earlier in verse 5. It's concerning the elect's adoption
as children. It is an outstanding and amazing
fact to me that After 2,024 years of New Testament preaching that
hardly anybody's interested in what God's doing. First thing
I thought about when I read this. Who's going to be interested? Well, after all these years,
you'd think somebody would be. thousands of years of prophecy
preceding the coming of the Redeemer, and then suddenly He appears
and with undeniable evidence accomplishes all that was written
concerning Him, fulfilled every type and symbol there was in
the Old Testament, and with divine authority ordains and empowers
men to preach the gospel, and they go for another 2,000 years. Souls being saved, and comparatively,
over all this time, just a handful are even interested. In Mark chapter 6, verse 6, our Lord was in His own country.
And it said He could do there no mighty more. There's hardly
anything. He healed a few sick folks. That's where He grew up. And here's what it said, the
Lord marveled because of their unbelief. Over in John 9, the Lord heals
a blind man. His disciples said, Lord, who
did sin that this man was born blind? Did he sin or his parents?
Somebody sinned. He said, neither. The blindness was caused by sin,
no doubt about that. But that's not why this man's
blind. This man's blind for the glory of God. His blindness is
a blessing beyond anything you can comprehend. His blindness is what I'm going to use to manifest
the glory of God. And so it is with all of our
blindness, everyone that God saves. And then the Pharisees,
here's this man, he was a notable man, everybody knew he was born
blind, everybody knew. And he comes to the parents and
he comes to the man and it goes on and on and on and they just
cross-examine him like a bunch of lawyers back and forth, trying
to find something to accuse the Lord of. And finally, this man
said, boy, here's a marvelous thing. Here's a wonderful thing. It's never been heard of or documented
anywhere in any history book that a man born blind wasn't
able to see. That a man came and told him
he could see, and I see. And you don't know who he is.
And they knew exactly what he was talking about because this
was the Sanhedrin and their job was to look for the Savior. They
knew him better than anybody, but they didn't know him. We live in the days when gospel
preaching has been relegated to the scrap heap. Gospel preaching
holds no interest to men because they're ignorant of the purpose
and will of God. Heaven's just a fantasy for funerals. And it's a soft saying that they
give at funerals, and that's the rag to wipe away their tears.
And oh, thank God, He has a vested interest in the souls of some,
or we'd be like Sodom and Gomorrah. That's what Paul said. Our hope
doesn't begin with us, it begins with God. He's appointed a sovereign,
eternal mediator. One mediator between God and
me and the man Christ Jesus. And God the Son's been given
this office because God has purposed to manifest His glory in the
salvation of sinners through the person and work of His Son. Now watch this, Ephesians 111. He's already said he's abounding
toward his elect in all wisdom and prudence, revealing unto
them the mystery of the will of God. And now he said, in whom
also in this Christ appointed before the foundation of the
world everything God He's going to do. He's going to do through
His Son. Everybody's going to say He chose in His Son, redeemed
in His Son, even brings them to know their
adoption in His Son. In whom also we, not the world,
not somebody we don't know, 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. And he may save great multitudes
at a time, as he did at times and days gone by, or only a few
in time, one here and one there. But oh, what a comfort it is
to me to know that as long as His gospel's being preached,
there's hope for the chief of sinners. It's according to the purpose
of Him that worketh all things. And there's nothing outside the
hand of God and nothing that's not in some way being managed
for the glory of His great name. It's because of God's purpose
of grace that preachers are called sent into the world and men's
lives are arranged so that they come and hear Him. That's all
of God. And nothing in this universe
is more sure to come to pass than His elect receiving their
adoption. Did you hear me? Nothing is more
sure than that. Everyone for whom Christ died
going to receive his adoption. How come? Verse 5, because it's
according to the good pleasure of his will, and he worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will. His tuition is the irresistible
work of his own hand. What are you saying? I'm saying
salvation to the Lord. That's what I'm saying. And this
alone sets a distinction between worldly religion and true religion. What's so different about what
you preach and what they preach? We preach salvation to the Lord
from start to finish. It marks the difference between
a false gospel and a true gospel. And then notice this, Paul's
not writing here about the manifestation of an inheritance, he's talking
about obtaining it. It manifested when God ordained
him before the world began. It manifested when God predestinated
the adoption of sons. But he's not talking about the
manifestation of it, he's talking about obtaining
it. obtaining it by way of the person
of Christ in whom we've obtained an inheritance, it said. The
gospel's a person, a glorious person. And listen to this. Hebrews 1 verse 2, it says that
in these last days, since the appearance of Christ,
God has spoken to us literally in Son. In Son. Now watch this. Whom
he hath appointed heir of all things. He's there. And by whom he made the world. Who being the brightness of his
glory, and expressed the image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he by himself purged
our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.
Now listen to this. Being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name
than they. He's the heir. He's the heir. If he wasn't the
heir, we couldn't be heirs. Because we're joint heirs with
him. He's the heir. He's the first and principal
heir of God and whatever we have and hope to have comes from Him,
the principal heir. And this is the purpose and will
of God and that which God works and brings to pass. It says, who worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will, that. See it in that next
verse, that. What's that mean? In order of
that, we should be to the praise of
His glory who first trusted in Christ. Let me see if I can get it down
on our level. I have to get things down on
my level. I can't understand them. It takes me forever. I
got to get out all the dictionaries and all the sources. It takes me forever. I have to get it down where it's
simple, something I can see and get hold of. And to bring it
down to our level, we might say that our inheritance has been
put into a trust. In a trust, a party known as
the trustor, that's God, gives the second party, the trustee,
that's Christ, the right to hold title to and manage the inheritance
set apart for the third party, he's the beneficiary. God's vested everything in His
Son. You say, I know that. I've read
that. I've heard that. Listen to me a minute. Oh, what integrity, what character,
what wisdom, what glory must God see in His Son? to best everything in Him. Huh? We ain't talking about you
and me. We're talking about God. If there's a flaw in this thing,
God ceases to be God. You say, well, I'm putting everything
on the line. Oh, no, you ain't. But God did. He bested His very
name. in this trust. There's a wonderful picture of
this. Let me just read it to you. It's over here in the book
of Revelation. Revelation chapter 5. Spirit of God sweeps old John
up, carries him right up into glory. He said, I saw in the right hand
of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on
the back side sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel
proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book? Who is worthy to loose the seals
thereof? And no man in heaven or in earth,
neither under the earth, was able to open the book, not even
to look on the book. And I wept because no man was
found worthy to open and read the book, neither look on it.
And one of the elders said unto me, weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having seven
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent
forth into all the earth. Now watch this. And he came,
he didn't read the book, he didn't look on the book, he took the
book. Now you don't take something from God. If he took the book,
it was given to him. to get into it. What's in the
book? Everything. What's the book about? Everything. All God's purposes,
all God's decrees, God's very name sealed. He couldn't even find somebody
to look on the book, let alone loose the seals. This lamb slain
come and took the book, read the book, opened the seals. and
brings it to pass. Huh? You see what I'm saying?
What integrity, what character, what glory God saw in His Son. He's the brightness, He said,
of the Father's glory and the express image of His person.
Oh, my soul. In Colossians chapter 1, verse
15, it said He's the image of the invisible God. I'm not talking
about his earthly shape or form, but his character, his life.
The firstborn of every creature. For by him are all things created
that are in heaven and in the earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him, and he's before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he's the head of the body
of the church who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. How come that in all things he
might have the preeminence? Why? Listen. Verse 19, Colossians
1. For it pleased the Father that
in him should what? All fullness dwell. What did he see in him to trust
in him? He trusted everything to him,
Russell, everything. Having established the preeminence
of Christ, God's trustee, Paul writes in Colossians 2.8, Beware,
lest any man spoil you through philosophy. Let me read to you the definition
of philosophy straight from the dictionary. It is the love and pursuit of
wisdom by natural means and moral discipline. It is the
self-investigation of causes and laws underlining
reality. That's what philosophy decides
what's true and what's false. It is inquiry into the nature
of things based on logical reasoning. It is the critique and analysis
of fundamental beliefs as they come to be. Philosophy. Paul said don't let anybody spoil
you through philosophy. Huh? Let me read you something else.
Philosophy is the basis of all university curriculums with only three exceptions. Medicine, law, and theology. Theology. Philosophy here has
to do with natural reasoning. the way things seem to be, attempting
to reason spiritual mysteries with carnal minds. And here's
the problem. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God because of foolishness to him.
Why are they foolishness to him? Philosophy. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. Things that are empty have no
foundation. Straighten up your life and God
will save you. That's a vain deceit. Give and
God will bless you. That's a vain deceit. Where did it come from? After
the tradition of men. It's a mixture really, it's a
formula. It's after the tradition of men and it's according to
the fundamental principles of the world, the rudiments. And
most worldly religions follow the tradition of their denominations,
whether they be Baptists or Catholics or Methodists or Presbyterians
and on and on the list go. And not after Christ. But Paul
said, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead. God
trusted him with everything. And everything's in him. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in Him, who's the head of all principality and power. We're talking about the trustee,
God's trustee. No man cometh unto the Father,
he said, but by me. I'm the way. I'm the truth. I'm the light. No other way to
God. You'll come to God through me
or you won't come. God put all of His eggs in one
basket, vested all things in Christ. His eternal counsel and
will, His purpose in creation, the fall, salvation, and beyond,
His people, His covenant, His inheritance, and even judgment
is committed unto Him. He's appointed a day in which
He'll judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. All those who are brought by
the mighty working of God to obtain the inheritance they were
predestinated to shall be to the praise of the glory of His
grace, who first trusted in Christ. That's God. Now, I don't know. I've read these versions and
read all the writers, and it's just nuts to me. I don't know
where they come up with it. But they say the apostles are
the first to trust in him. That's ridiculous. This is an apostle writing. All right. Now in the light of
all this, try to picture the sinner. Raised, no telling how. Brought to believe who knows
what. Living in a world that's ignorant of God, but talk about
him as though they're on a first name basis. In his days, walking after the
course of the world according to the prince of the power of
the air. Living out his days in the lust of his flesh, but God. who's rich in mercy,
and for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sin, quickened us to gather with Christ. What's
that talking about? Talking about making you one.
That's what that's talking about. Made you one in him. And when
he died, you died. When he was raised, you were
raised. When He ascended up, you ascended
up. And when He sat down, you sat
down. Isn't that what Scripture says? And here's another one of them
that's. In order that in the ages to
come, He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now comes that verse you know
so well. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourself. What is this faith? This faith
is God showing you what He did way back then. He's showing to
you the trustee who manages your inheritance. He's showing you
the trustee without whom you wouldn't have an inheritance.
Now here's my text. In whom you also trusted God
trusted him, and so does every believer in whom you also trusted. Now listen, after you heard the
word of truth, you heard lies all your life. Some of them you bit into. Some
of them you laid hold of. You've heard lies all your life,
but you wouldn't trust on him. But now you trust him. Because
you heard the word of truth. Now listen, the gospel of your
salvation. That sound like something that's
an option? My soul. Faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of the Lord. And the gospel Paul preached
was the gospel of God. That's what he said. I'm separated
under the gospel of God. Romans 1.1. It's the eternal purpose of God,
and the basis of it is that God chose a people in His Son, and
by way of covenant union made full provision for them in Christ.
And when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them
that were under the law. Why? That we might receive our
adoptions. Now watch this. And because you're
sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart. And what do you cry? Abba, Father. Huh? God sent an ambassador with the good news of salvation
by grace. showed us the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus,
and called it the gospel of our salvation, the good news that
the King of glory not only chosen you to salvation, but that He,
as your substitute and Redeemer, has accomplished your redemption,
and sits at the right hand of God as your security and guarantor. And not only that, but He's the
testator. He's going to make sure that
all of the inheritance goes to the legal heirs. He's the testator. You can read about that in Hebrews
chapter 9. Now watch this. In whom also after
that you believed were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
I don't want to shock you. But
this sealing of God is not so much about what the Spirit has
done or is doing, but it's His presence that is the earnest
of our inheritance. If the life and death of Christ
were not sufficient to redeem, or if any of the demands of God's
everlasting covenant of grace were not met, The Holy Ghost
would not be here. Is that right? If I go away, if I go not away,
the Holy Spirit's not going to come. That's what Christ said. But if I sin to the Father, we'll
sin Him. The Holy Ghost would not be here.
If the Holy Ghost were not present, you could not and would not believe. It's the work of the Spirit.
I have not seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him,
but he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. And you could not or would not
be born of God or have entered into His kingdom. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Turn over with me to Romans 8 and I'll see if I
can bring this thing to a close. In the last verse of Romans 7,
Paul tells us that we serve the law of God, that is, we keep
it, honor it, and promote it with the mind of Christ. That's
the only way you can even, man, you don't want to touch that
law. No other kind of way, except with the mind of Christ. In Christ, the law has achieved
its highest goal. And by faith in Him, we honor
the law as highly as it can be honored, seeing it fulfilled
in Christ. Alright, Romans 8 verse 1. There
is therefore, based on that, on what he did, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Now watch this. Who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. How do you walk after
the Spirit? Look into Christ. There isn't any other way to
walk. When the Spirit comes, He's not going to talk about
Himself. These guys, I'm telling you,
they'll come after you from every direction. And they'll start
talking to you about speaking in tongues and the evidence of
the Holy Ghost. When He comes, He ain't going
to speak of Himself, Russell. That's plain, ain't it? It's
another Spirit. When He comes, He's going to
take the things of mine, Christ said, and He's going to show
them to you. Has He shown them to you? Then you've been sealed
with the Holy Spirit from Him. He shows them to you. You trust
Him. You trust Him because God first
trusted Him. And you see God with... I don't
even know how to make a comparison between His integrity and ours,
but we see Him trusting in His Son, how much more should I trust
in Him? We walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from
the law of sin and death. I'm free from that. My whole
hope is Christ in you, the hope of glory. All my hope is in Him. I don't know if I can rightly
use that word, but I'm going to. Somebody can correct me later
on, but... Isn't that what God did? Hoped
in His Son? Huh? I'll tell you how much so. When
man sinned, he didn't destroy the world. Huh? How come? Because there
was a substitute. There was a redeemer. There's
a mediator. And he can't fail. 8, said that the righteousness of
the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but
after the spirit. Verse 5, for they that are after
the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are
after the spirit, the things of the spirit. To be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So then, they that are in the
flesh, had no intervention of the Spirit, had no knowledge,
had no revelation. They that are in the flesh, uninterrupted, left to themselves
and their false notions, cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit, if so be the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man had not the Spirit
of Christ, he'd none of his. And if Christ be in you, now
wait a minute, he's talking about the Spirit. Yep, the Spirit of
Christ. And if Christ be in you, that
is by way of the Spirit of God, the body's dead because of sin,
but the Spirit's life because of righteousness. Now here's what all this boils
down to, verse 12. Therefore, brethren, we're not
debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. If you live
after the flesh, you're going to die. But if you, through the Spirit,
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. What's that mean? Well, it signifies
a subduing of the deeds of the flesh, that this brought to pass
by powerful presence and work of the Holy Spirit in you. But
we consider ourselves dead. Everything about the flesh is
dead. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God. For you've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear you. You've received the spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself, or
himself, his presence, beareth witness with our spirit that
we're the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joiners of Christ, sealed, sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. And he said, this is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
under the praise of his glory. May the Lord prove that work
in us. I've had all the religion I can
stand. I want something lasting, eternal,
real, and this is as real as it gets. Oh, and if we get it.