I want to return to a very familiar
passage of scripture. Most of you could probably quote
it. Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going
to be speaking from verse 6, but I wanted to read several
verses. Most of this actually is just
one sentence. 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 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, and whom also after
that ye believed You were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased
possession, unto the praise of His glory. I invite you this morning to turn
back with me to Ephesians chapter 1. And before I get into the
message this morning, I want to thank you for all that you
did to make this past weekend so special, not only for us,
but for all of our visitors. It was a very, very special time. I've gotten just untold texts
and calls and letters from different ones expressing their gratitude
for this conference. And I thank God for the privilege
of being able to host such a meeting. What a privilege. And pray that
if he tarries, he's coming till next year, maybe we can have
it again. What we heard this past week,
I hope, is a confirmation of what I emphasize to you all the
time, salvation. is in a person, the Lord Jesus
Christ. I have but one aim, one goal,
is to point men to Christ. Tell the sinner who he is, tell
him the truth, the truth about God, the truth about man, and
point him to Christ, our substitute. In him is life. There are many things that mark
a distinct difference in what we preach and what the religions
of the world preach. We preach the absolute sovereignty
of God in creation. Without God, there'd be no creation. To mark what God is doing with
creation, He created it through our redemption. And to show you something of
our Redeemer's power, something of His deity, He created this
whole world out of nothing. Read Hebrews chapter 1 and 2.
The things that you see are not made from things that already
existed. There was nothing out there.
And He made everything you see out of nothing, which is exactly
what He does with the sinner. That's what He does. He takes
nothing and makes something out of it that glorifies His name. We preach the absolute sovereignty
of God in creation and providence. Nothing comes to pass except
what God has purposed. I know Pharaoh had council meetings
with his generals, and they plotted and planned, and they said, look
here, these ignorant people, they run out there and pin themselves
in against the Red Sea. No, God designed it that way.
He designed it that way. And Moses, by God's direction,
raised that staff, and he said, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord. And they did. And Pharaoh and
all his army drowned in that sea. Israel and all their children
passed over on dry land. And they sang about that salvation
on the other side. And he's absolutely sovereign
in salvation. He saves whom he will. Isn't
that what he said? Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, I'm going to show you my glory. I'll be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. I'll be merciful to whom I will
be merciful and whom I will I'll harden. God is sovereign in the
salvation of sinners. He'll save whom he will, when
he will, how he will. The sinner needs to get over
trying to take these things of God and trying to make a mess
with his fallen nature. Get over it. Get past it. We're
dealing with God. And He's sovereign in this thing
of salvation and He'll do it His way, in His time, not yours,
in His time. And He'll do it through His Son. And you can look all you want
to for some other way, it ain't out there. Christ said, I'm the
way. Not one of the ways, I am the
way. There are many things that mark
a distinct difference in what we preach, and one of them is
that we preach the absolute sovereignty of God in creation, providence,
and salvation. He doeth according to His will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay His hand or say unto Him what doest thou.
He said, I'm God. They're none like me. I know
you're looking around for something to compare God to. He said you
can't compare me to anything. They're none like me. I'm God. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. You know
somebody else like that? I don't. That's God. We preach
the absolute sovereignty of God in all things, especially salvation. And we preach grace, not works,
grace. Well, works has to fit in there
somewhere. Yeah, Christ did them. He did them all. And when he cried on that cross,
it's finished, that wound it up. We preach the sovereign grace
of God in salvation. It's not according to our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began and was manifested at His
appearing in this world. Paul said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God. If righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead and vain. That's pretty clear, isn't
it? If I want to start talking about my works, I've just made
void the death of Christ. That's just how serious a matter
it is. But what separates us the most from worldly religion
is the person of Jesus Christ. We preach salvation in a person. It's not a system. Are you all Calvinist? Well,
I don't know. I believe in those five points,
but that doesn't make me a Calvinist. I think Christian is probably
the closest term ever came up with for a believer. They were called Christians at
Antioch. Been calling them ever since. Salvation is in a person. Grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. You want to preach grace, you're
going to have to preach Christ. Because grace came through Him.
God's not going to be gracious apart from Christ. It's not going
to happen. Grace and truth, all truth. How
do we know what's true? He said, I am the way. Now listen,
the truth. You want to know the truth? Study
Christ. He's the truth. You want to be
able to look at that mystery and unravel that mystery like
a puzzle? Study Christ. He's the Rosetta
Stone. You want to understand this pictorial,
or pictograph, if you will, of the Word of God, all these pictures
and types and symbols in the Old Testament, study Christ.
He's the Rosetta Stone. And we preach grace, the sovereign
grace of God in salvation, not according to our works. Faith is effectual when it zeroes
in on Christ. That's when we have faith. You're not going to have faith
apart from Christ. You have to know Christ to know God. You
can't know God apart from Christ. He's the manifestation of God.
And he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the
Son of God hath not life. I've got four things that I want
us to see in this verse, verse 6, here in Ephesians chapter
1. I want us first to see the subject of it, and then to see
the objects of it, and to see the purpose of it, and to see
the way of it. So what is the subject of this
work? Acceptance with God. There's nothing that sends cold
chills down my back more than to hear a man or a woman talk
about accepting Jesus as their personal Savior. Can you imagine? Could you imagine
Solomon was perhaps the greatest king, earthly king, that ever
existed? When the Queen of Sheba came
to see his kingdom, she said, the half has never been told.
She'd never seen anything like it. Can you imagine, here's a, I'll say a painter, we ain't
got any of them in here. Here's a painter. He just paints
barns, he paints houses, he's a painter. And he comes in to the palace
of the king. Can you imagine this man Not
feeling, I hate to use the word pressure, but not feeling something
of the royalty of this person. He's so far above him in his
station. He's so far above him in his
power. I just paint barns. That's all I've ever known my
whole life. I just paint. But now he's standing in the
presence of the king. Oh, my soul. He not up for your acceptance?
Can you imagine that painter sitting there looking at Solomon
and said, I accept you as my king? Well, who cares? Who cares? You don't, I'll put
you to death. I'll have your head. How's that?
But here we got thousands, hundreds of thousands coming down an aisle
and saying, I accept Jesus as my personal Savior. He's not up for your acceptance.
He's already accepted of God, seated with God, wearing the
crown of omnipotence. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. He's already accepted of God.
And who do men think they are to accept or reject the Son of
God? Here's the Sanhedrin. This is
the whole purpose for getting this council together, is they're
looking for the prophesied Christ. And they examine men and by their
vote they're going to tell the people which one is the Christ
and which one's not. What foolishness. What foolishness. And here comes the Christ and
he was despised and rejected of the council. If thou be the
Christ, tell us plainly. I told you. Told you plainly.
Told you exactly what the prophets prophesied. But you believe not
because you're not my sheep. Who do men think they are to
accept or reject the Son of God? The whole purpose of the Jewish
Sanhedrin was to accept or reject Christ, and look where they wound
up. They're the ones who crucified the Lord of Glory. They murdered those, the Scripture
said, who showed before the coming of the just one. You killed the
prophets who prophesied of it. Despised and rejected of men,
he came into a world made by him, by his own hand, and the
world knew not. He came unto his own, the only
people on the top side of God's earth who even had an inkling
of who God was. And God gave them prophets. He
gave them the word of God. And they still didn't know him.
Still didn't know him. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. He told them on one occasion,
he said, you search the scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life and they are they that testify of me. But you won't
come to me that you might have life. You're going to go to a
book. You're going to go to a priesthood.
You're going to go to this. You're going to go to that. Men
will go anywhere you tell them except Christ. Been there and
done that. I've had people come down the
aisle. They love coming down the aisle. That glorifies them
when they come down the aisle. Doesn't glorify God. A man told
me one time we had a mourner's bench in the front. He said,
now this is just a wooden bench. There's no efficacy in this bench
before God. It's just a place where men meet
God. Oh, my soul. There was a place designed as
a picture. of where men meet God in the
Old Testament. And none but the high priest
could go in there, and he couldn't go in there without blood. But
you're going to come up to a bench and talk about efficacy in that
bench, just a place where men... I tell you, you find a place
where men meet God, you talk about more efficacy and you know
what to do with. And the only place men can meet
God is in Christ. One mediator between God and
men, the man, Christ is. God's not looking for your acceptance
of His Son. His Son's already been accepted.
The question is, how can a fallen, depraved sinner be accepted of
God? That's the question. How can
God deal with me? I'm a sinner. I can't quit sinning. I want to, but I can't. I cannot
quit sinning. A man who says, I don't want
to sin. You're a liar. That's what you
are. You're a liar. I'm telling you
that by the Word of God. You're a liar. You still want to sin or you
wouldn't sin? Talk about unwilling sins? There are no unwilling sins.
You sin because you want to and you practice it. You can't stop
it. That's why Paul cried out in
Romans 7, O wretched man that I am, when I would do good evils
present in me. And God's holy. God's holy. I will by no means clear the
guilty. That's what he says. The soul
that sinneth shall surely die. That's God's Word. How in the world can God accept
of sinner in Christ. That's the only way you can do
it. That's what this verse is all about, being accepted of
God. How can a holy and righteous
and just God receive sinners? Listen to this, Job said, what
is man that he should be clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous. His friends are talking to him
about being righteous, about doing things that please God. And Job answers and he says,
What man that he should be claimed? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his saints. Yea, the heavens are not pure
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man? that drinketh iniquity like water."
It takes no more thought for it than taking a sip of water. In the preceding verses, he states
clearly that salvation is for his elect, chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world, and that they're all predestinated
under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. But how can such men who are
now under the curse of fallen man, who are depraved in their
nature, ignorant of God, and practicing sin, be accepted of
God? And that's the subject. And that's
the issue. And it's a question that every
saved sinner is going to ask and find the answer to. All right? Here's the second thing Paul
deals with in this verse. Why me? Why me? Of all the people on
this earth, why me? Why you? Why us and not the rest of the
world? Surely our sins are equal to
theirs. Surely we practice sin, same
as others. Paul said, such were some of
you. And he named some things that we won't even talk about
in public. He said, such were some of you. Paul said, he said this, having
named every vile sin he could think of, 1 Corinthians 6, 9
through 11, you can read it pretty soon. And you, he wrote in the book
of Colossians, that were sometime alienated. You weren't Jews,
you didn't have no promise of God. You were enemies in your
mind by wicked works. You practice sin in your mind.
Listen to me. Nothing hid before God. We covered
that in a Sunday school lesson. Now listen to me. A man can walk
down the street with his arm around his wife and commit adultery
with a young woman on the other side of the street, and nobody's
the wiser. But God sees it. He said, you
were enemies in your mind by wicked works. Try to control
your thoughts sometimes. Can you do it? Yet now hath he reconciled. Why
me of all people on earth? Why me? Why would God mark my
lineage, give me a being, and arrange means to save my wretched
soul? Why me? The answer lies in the very heart
of God. Before Jacob or Esau were ever
born, before they'd ever done any good or evil, Romans chapter
9, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of
works, but of him that calleth it was said to their mother.
These children weren't even born yet. It was said to their mother,
the elder is going to serve the younger. We're going to change
the laws of men. The elder, he was the head of
the family. He's the one who distributed
the inheritance. The elder is going to serve the
younger. Why? Why? Why is he going to? As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. Jacob's the figure of all God's
elect who are called the sons of Jacob, or children of Israel. And when He expresses His eternal
love for Jacob, He's expressing His eternal love for all His
elect. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. He chose us in Christ that we
should always be before Him being loved. God chose us in Christ
and blessed us in Christ, and that's why in due time we're
accepted in the blood, predestinated to the adoption of children.
If you go down that list, redeemed by His blood, go down that list.
Every time you read it, it's in Him, in Him, in Him, in Him. His love for us was entrusted
to His Son and secured in Him, and nothing now can separate
us from the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus, our
Lord. All that love provided, that
justification demanded, that wisdom, purpose, was secured
in Christ. The subject of this verse is
acceptance with God, and the question, why me? Why you? Why us? And not the whole world? Because God would. It lies in
the very heart of God. And then here's the third thing,
the purpose behind it. What in the world would move
God to do such things, as he's talking about here? What was
his motive? What moved God? It says, to the
praise of the glory of His grace. Everything God does is for His
glory. For His glory. Grace is a word
used in connection with every aspect of our salvation. Did
you know that? In Romans 11, talking about the
Jewish nation who was once known as the children of God, but now
they're all but cut off. They're being viewed by believers
all over the world at that time as being against God. God's judged
them. They were cut off. But Paul says
at this present time also, there is a remnant. There is a remnant
according to the election of grace, and if by grace then is
it no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. Paul was a
Jew, and by the grace of God he saved him. He saved him. Salvation is by grace, it's not
of works, lest any man should boast. For a man to be saved
by works, he takes the glory and praise away from God and
puts it on himself. And the purpose behind all things
is the glory of God. He robs God of His glory. Everything
God does is for the glory of His name. And everything He purpose
created and brings to pass is to this end. And nothing brings
Him as much glory as the glory of His grace. He said, I'm going to declare
my glory to you, Moses. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
I'll show mercy to whom I will. Did you know the gospel is called
the gospel of the grace of God? That's what it's called in Scripture.
The gospel of the grace of God. What's the last thing in the
world you see on churches in this world? Grace. Grace. God's purpose is called His purpose
of grace. Our eternal union with Christ
is stated this way, by grace ye are saved. And the means of
salvation by grace are you saved through faith. It's a gracious
faith, the gift of God. And even the Holy Ghost is called
the spirit of grace. Everything that God has purposed
by His grace has been accomplished by His grace and applied by His
grace and preserved by His grace. As sin, He said in Romans 5,
hath reigned unto death. Now watch this. Even so, might
grace reign through righteousness. What's going to reign? Grace.
Going to reign through righteousness. Who's righteousness? Christ. by Jesus Christ our Lord. And
it's to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath
made us accepted in the blood. And that brings me to the fourth
thing I want you to see in this verse. How can these things be? How can they be? Salvation has
a basis and that basis has to do with the very character of
God and the character of men. And God's character is rightly
defined as his perfections. When you're talking about God,
you're talking about perfect. Rich young ruler come to Christ,
he said, good master. Boy, he put the brakes on right
there. And that's what we need to do when religious men come
talking about good brother, to stop them right there. They're
none good but God. Is that what you're saying to
me? You calling me God? That's what our Lord said, there's
nothing good but God. Everything about God is perfect.
Talking to the priest of Israel, the Holy Ghost inspires Moses
to pen these words, thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy
God. Oh man, what a thing to tell
a priest. Thou shalt be perfect with thy
God. That's the only way you can get
along with God, isn't it? Perfect. Only way we can serve
Him is priest. He made us kings and priests
unto God. How did He do that? He perfected
us forever. That's what He did in Christ. Now you can read about that in
Deuteronomy 18, 13. And in the same book, chapter 32, talking
about God's name being manifest in Christ, He said He is the
rock. His work is perfect. How am I going to know it's Christ?
His work is perfect. For all His ways are judgment. What kind of judgment? Perfect
judgment. A God of truth and without iniquity,
just and righteous is He. And He tells us that the sacrifice
must be perfect to be accepted. And the God of perfection will
not compromise His character. That's why He spared not His
own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. He's not going to
compromise His character. If God were willing to compromise
His character, He would have done so for His Son's sake. But
He wouldn't. He couldn't. And He won't for
you and I. But in delivering Him up for
us all, He said in Hebrews 10, 14, by one offering. Now listen
to this. He hath perfected forever them
who are sanctified. How'd they get sanctified? Well,
he tells you back in verse 10. By the which will we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Ephesians 2, talking about our
eternal covenant union with Christ, said He has raised us up together,
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We're
accepted in the blood, already seated in glory. The way secured,
a place reserved, our future secured in the blood. He said,
I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may
be also. Does God hear his prayers? He
said, Father, I would that all these, all these believers, all
that you've given me, be with me where I am. Do you think there's
some way you ain't going to be there? No, if God chose you and
Christ died for you, you're going to be there. You're going to
be there. Now watch this, Romans 5.10. For if, when we were enemies,
that's when God manifested his love for us, showed us what this
love is, commended his love for us. While we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. And then he tells us here in
verse 10, for if when we were enemies we were reconciled to
God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled, we'll
be saved by His life. Our Lord's not pacing up in glory
hoping that somebody's going to believe in Him. He's seated victorious at the
right hand of God. and guarantees by his presence
the salvation of his elect. I know a lot of people, when
they think about Christ in glory, it's like a figurehead. It's
kind of like the Queen of England. She can't really do anything,
but she's the queen. And they got her a palace, and
she walks around in there, but she's just a figurehead. When
it comes, they got to go to Parliament if they want to do something.
And it's the same thing with us. We have a president. He ain't
nothing in the world but a figurehead. Everybody uses our president. But not Christ. Christ is not
sitting in glory as a figurehead. He's alive. He's engaged with
your salvation. We have been begotten again to
a lively hope, a living hope. Our Lord's living. He's not in
a tomb. And He's not just a figurehead. God
did all He can do. Now it's all up to you. That's
what you say when you don't know you have a living hope. He's the Lord of lords and King
of kings and He sits on the throne of glory. Sing to it. That all
for whom He died be reconciled to Him, giving faith in Him,
entering into rest in Him, dying in faith. We're preserved in
Jesus Christ. Listen to this. Peter said, We're
begotten again unto a lively hope, a living hope, a person,
a living, caring, loving, victorious person by Jesus Christ who rose
from the dead and through him to an inheritance incorruptible,
undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by the power of God through faith. He ain't gonna
let you go. He said to those Pharisees who
demanded from him, if thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
He said, I told you. You believe not because you are
not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I give unto them eternal
life and they'll never perish. Neither can any man pluck them
out of my hand. What hand? That hand seated in
glory. And even if they could, they
couldn't pluck you out of my Father's hand. He greater than
all, and I and my Father are one. We have a living Lord who died
for us, suffered and died for us while we're yet breathing
out cursing in His name, practicing abomination before God. And now having died for us and
risen from the dead and seated in glory, you think He's not
active in our salvation? He's not going to lose one man
for whom He died. Talking about his priesthood,
he said he's able to save to the uttermost all them that come
unto God.