Ephesians chapter 1. Let's read the first 12 verses here
in Ephesians 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
bowed 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 has 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 had made us accepted
and to be loved. 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. as our text, verse 6. And these words from verse 6,
I think it'll be more than enough to take up a little time that
we'll have. The praise of the glory of his
grace. The glory of his grace. Salvation, God's glory has something
to do with the salvation of sinners. That's the ultimate end of salvation. Yes, to save His people from
their sins, but the end of that is God's glory. We sing, to God
be the glory, great things He hath done. Salvations of the
Lord, as Brother Eric preached to us a moment ago, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. God's grace is glorious, first
of all, consider it in this way. God's grace is glorious in its
origin. If the grace that I profess to
believe can be traced back to anyone or anything other than
to God, then it's not God's grace. It's not God's grace. From the
election of grace in eternity past to that grace that shall
gather all chosen back to Christ in eternity to come, we bow before
God, the God of all grace, and every believer gratefully acknowledges
of Him. and through Him, and back to
Him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Grace comes from God only. Only from God. Grace didn't begin
with man. Give man credit for sin. Sin
man did. He deserves that, or the wrath
associated with it, but not grace. Blame man for his ruin. But thank
God for the remedy. Grace doesn't need man's help
to make it effectual. I like that word effectual. That
means it works. It gets the job done. And grace
doesn't need my contribution to make it work, to make it effectual. God's grace is effectual all
by itself. All by itself, isn't it? Look
at verse 4. According, Paul writes, according
as he, that is God, hath chosen us in him, in Christ, before
the foundation of the world. It was grace that wrote my name
in life's eternal book. It was grace that gave me to
the Lamb who all my sorrows took. Along that same note, Paul, writing
to Timothy in his second epistle, chapter 1, verse 9, wrote, God,
who has saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Imagine
that. It sounds like God saves people
on purpose. I do declare He saves people
on purpose. Salvation was not His backup
plan. God decreed salvation before
He ever said, let there be light. God chose to save sinners. Salvation
is of the Lord as to its conception. Who but God could conceive of
such a great salvation? What mind but the mind of God
Almighty could conceive of such great salvation? Who but God
could provide the answer to this question, the solution to this
dilemma? How can a man be just with God? Now religious answers today on
every hand tells us that's really not a problem. How can a sinner
be just with God? Considering what I am, who I
am, and who God is, my soul, who can bridge that gap? Who
can reconcile me to such a God as that? I'm altogether sin,
he's altogether holy. And you know what the answer
of most religion today is? That's not a problem, it's easy.
It's easy. I was told that all my life.
It's easy as A, B, C. But that one, who himself is
the embodiment of truth, that one who was the eternal Word
made flesh, said this in answer to the question, who can be saved? How can a man be just with God?
How can any sinner here be just with God Almighty? And Jesus
Christ says, I'll tell you what, with man it's impossible. It's
not tough, it's not hard, it's impossible. He'll never get it
done. All of his labor, all of his
works, all of his good deeds, everything he does will never
justify him in the sight of a holy God. On the contrary, It will
just present him more guilty before that holy God. His righteousnesses
are filthy rags. In Genesis 1, the first chapter
of the Bible, in the beginning God created heaven, the heaven
and the earth. Is that when God chose His people? Is that when God chose the people
on whom He would bestow His glorious grace? Oh no, you've got to go
back much further than that. There was a beginning before
the beginning, before God had created anything. before there
was a heaven above or an earth below, before there was a star
that ever shone or a sun that ever rose, before there was an
angel to do God's bidding, fly back as far as possible, as far
as you possibly can, child of God, on the wings of faith, the
things unseen, and at that time when God, the majestic God, dwelt
alone in solitude. And hear Him say, I am God. And
there is none else. Before the mountains were brought
forth, ever thou hast formed the earth and the world. Even
from everlasting to everlasting thou art God. Without beginning
of days and end of light or change of time. God had no beginning
and God shall never cease to be. He's always been God. He's God everlastingly and He
was everlastingly God. I remember my sons one time we
were coming from church where I had preached and they were
sitting in the back seat, both little tots, and they asked me,
Dad, we heard you say that God was eternal, everlasting, that
God had no starting place, that he's first and last, that he'll
never end, never cease to be, he never had a beginning, he'll
never had an end. And I said, I'm glad you were
listening. Yes, I did say that. And they said, Dad, we don't
understand that. And I said, sons, your daddy
don't understand it either. That's a mystery, isn't it? Everything that we have to do
with, it's time, time, the clock back there. Oh, we're controlled
by time, but not God. God didn't spring from time,
time sprung from Him. In the beginning, God started
the clock, but He Himself had no beginning. I am God and there
is none else. Listen to this. From the psalmist,
the sweet singer of Israel, Psalm 102, verse 25. Of old thou hast
laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work
of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt
endure. How great thou art! Yea, all
of them shall wax old like a garment, as a vesture shall thou change
them, and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy
years shall have no end. The beginning before the beginning,
Paul spoke of it in 2 Thessalonians 2. But we are bound. We are bound. We don't find fault with election.
We thank God for election. We don't cry unfair. We cry,
thank God for His unspeakable grace. Paul says we're bound. We're under obligation. Every
sinner is, every saved sinner, to give thanks always to God.
He didn't leave us in darkness. He didn't allow us to believe
the lie and be damned. He didn't allow us to be deceived.
Oh, no. And therefore, we're bound to
give Him thanks because God had from the beginning. chosen you
to salvation through sanctification and belief of the truth. It's
the grace of God that brings salvation. If it didn't, there
would be no salvation. There would be no such thing
as salvation. Thank God. Thank God that it's
not of Him that willeth. Aren't you glad that that's so?
It's not of Him that willeth. Thank God that salvation is not
of Him that runs about doing religious works. No, none would
be saved otherwise. If Jesus Christ had waited before
the tomb of Lazarus for him to take the first step to exercise
his so-called free will, Lazarus would still be in the tomb. He
would never come forth to life, and neither would any sinner,
unless Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, comes
to the dead soul of a sinner and says, live, they'll remain
dead. Are you here tonight that don't
know God? It's not as easy as they be saying. It will require
a miracle of God's mighty grace. Jesus Christ will have to come
to where you are. and say live and then you'll
live and then as a consequence of that life you'll believe and
you'll repent and you'll be most willing to come to Christ. Nobody
has to drag you up to a so-called altar. and pump a confession
out of your mouth. Oh, no, no. You beg God to save
you. Oh, God, have mercy on me. I'm
the sinner. Pass me not, oh, gentle Savior. Oh, thank God that salvation
is of Him. That is, God that showeth mercy.
Thank God that He has purpose, that He will be gracious. God's
purpose, that He will be gracious. There's a lot. As I told my sons
when they were young, I don't understand that either. I can't
answer that. I can't help you with that one.
That's beyond your daddy. There's a lot I don't know. But
I know this. According to God's Word, somebody,
somebody is going to experience His mercy and grace. And there's
nothing that can stop it. There's nothing that can prevent
it. There's nothing that can even
hinder it. God says, I will be gracious.
There's going to be sinners that are going to experience my mercy
and my grace and my great salvation. Thank God that that's so. I love
that old hymn. It speaks of my experience. It's sort of like an autobiography
to me. I didn't write it, but I can
sure relate to it. I spoke about being in that tomb
of darkness, that pit from which I could not escape. Ooh, how
I cried. Darvin, I think you went through
that too. I went to churches and altars. They got sick of
looking at me at the altar. They told me I'm saved and I'd
go home and lay down at night. God said, no, you're not. You're
lost. You're lost. You're lost. That old hymn says,
once my soul was astray from the heavenly way, and I was wretched
and vile as could be, but my Savior. But my Savior, in love, gave
me peace from above when He reached down His hand through me. I was
near to despair." Remember that, my brother? My sister in Christ,
remember that? Remember that feeling? Oh, my
soul, I thought, God can't save me. I had gone too far, David. I have crossed the line. I have
been wicked, so wicked for so long. There is no way God's going
to save me. I'm going to hell. That's what
I thought. I'm going to hell and there's
nothing I can do to stop it. That's the state I was in. That's
what God done, Eric, like you preach. God gets you lost. Only God can get a man lost.
Get him lost. And I was near to despair when
he came to me there. And He showed me that I could
be free. He lifted my feet and gave me gladness complete when
He reached down His hand for me. Oh, when my Savior reached
down for me, He had to reach way down for me. I was lost,
undone, without God or His Son when He reached down His hand
for me. Oh, glory to His name. Glory
to His name. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift. In 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9,
Paul said this, God had not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's appointment that will
be kept because God made it. God made it. He'll see to it.
You know, sometimes reservations that are made on your behalf
by someone else, don't always work out, do they? I like when
someone makes me a reservation. I know it's vanity and pride,
but for some reason when I go into a motel, a hotel, Paul,
it makes me feel important. I mean, I just walk up to the
desk and say, I'm Larry Criss. I've got a reservation. Well,
you sure do. Thank you. Thank you. Give me
my room key. Well, I tell you what, I don't
know how many times when I would go to Crossville, Tennessee to
fill in for Mr. Bell, Donnie Bell at Lantana
Grace Church, that I'd go into the motel that he said it had
a room and I'd walk up to the desk and say, I'm Larry Criss.
They'd say, so what? I said, I have a reservation.
He said, no you don't. I said, Daddy Bill, you did it
again. No reservation. Oh, the Lord God Almighty, He's
made this reservation. He's made this appointment. Peter
wrote, we have been predestined to an inheritance, incorruptible
and undefiled, that fadeth not away and is reserved. Oh, how
about that, brothers and sisters? It's reserved. It's just waiting
for our arrival. It's reserved in heaven for you. It's not that I did choose thee,
for Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
thee had you not chosen me. Thou from the sin that stained
me has cleansed and set me free. Of old thou hast ordained me
that I should live with thee. Isn't that something? Isaiah
14. 24. The Lord of hosts has sworn,
saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. That's
our God. That's God. Just the thought.
That's all. Gets it done. As I have purposed,
so shall it stand. This is the purpose that is purposed
under the whole earth. And this is the hand that is
stretched out upon all the nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed,
and who shall disannul it? Have you ever heard people, usually
ignorant preachers, make statements like this? You
know if God had his way. I heard people say that, and I
didn't pay much attention to them, darling. And then one day,
God got my attention, I began to pay a little attention to
what I was hearing. If God had his way, and I thought, now wait
a minute. That just don't sound right.
Who's stopping God from having his way? Who's stopping God Almighty
from having his way? God has his way all the time. everywhere. Christ said, Father,
you've given me power over most flesh, saved flesh. No, you've
given me power over all flesh. The salvation of a sinner is
not up to the sinner, it's up to God. It's up to who he will
have mercy and grace upon. For the Lord of hosts hath purposed
it, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out,
and who's going to turn it back? Who's going to turn it back?
So when you consider grace, the glory of God's grace is to its
origin, in the beginning, God. God. Oh, how glorious it is. Now secondly, consider the glory
of God's grace in the one in whom it comes from. It flows
through. And there's only one. And John
tells us plainly, the law was given by Moses, Never intended
to save, couldn't save, God didn't purpose that His law, it exposes
sin. It condemns us, proves us guilty
that every mouth may be shut. When you hear somebody spewing
off about keeping God's law, they don't know God's law or
they'd shut their mouth and quit talking. But the law was given
by Moses, but grace, grace that saves, grace that keeps, grace
that will not let me go, Oh, Moses can't do that. But grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace that reigns. As we sang
a moment ago, grace that is greater than all my sin. That's the only
sort of grace that will do me any good. Grace that can pardon
and cleanse within. Grace that saves, comes only
from one person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Romans
5 verse 15, but not as the offense, so also as the free gift. For
if through the offense of one many be dead, much more the grace
of God and the gift by grace which is by one man, who is he? Christ Jesus. By one man Jesus
Christ hath abounded unto many. Grace by one man. Grace doesn't
come by the priest man. or the preacher man, or the Catholic
man, or the Baptist man. Grace comes by one man. The grace
of God that brings salvation flows to sinners through only
one channel. One channel, one reservoir that's
able to hold God's grace. One reservoir holds God's grace. One fountain overflows with God's
grace that sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
stain. My, so what grace. Plunge in
today. Oh, come to this fountain. Come
to this fountain so rich and sweet. Plunge in today and be
made complete. Paul said, since we're some of
you, fornicators, blasphemers, adulterers, idolaters. Such are some of you. And as
such, you'll never enter the kingdom of God. But, but, something
happened. You've jumped in that fountain
filled with blood. And now you arise. And it's all
gone. My sin is gone, it's gone. Oh, thank God you're washed,
you're sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. That grace comes by one man.
And all this is done according to the eternal purpose which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul says in Galatians
4 and 4, but when the fullness of the time was come, oh, that
time, that He would send His Son in this world. That time
that His Son would come in the body that God Almighty prepared
for Him and say, I've come to do Thy will, O my God. That time
came. And when the fullness of that
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law. And being made like unto His
brethren, He perfectly, completely obeyed every precept of God's
law. He was my representative in that
holy life. I remember, you'll not be surprised,
you that are members here at this church, if I mention the
hollow I lived in as a child, as a young boy growing up back
in West Virginia. I've shared several holler stories
with you, but I remember one winter following my father. There
came a deep snow. I mean, it was feet, a couple
of feet. My father, oh, he's a big man. He's such a big man, but he wanted
me to go with him. So I began to follow him, and
he was walking, and man, he was just making, and I was behind
him, and I was trying to just, you know, where he'd always,
He'd already put his foot, already made the imprint in the snow.
I was just trying to stretch out and put my feet where his
foot had already been. Jesus Christ in his life, in
every thought he had, in every word he ever spoke, from the
time he entered this world, Until the time he expired upon the
cross, saying, Father, into thy hands I commend thy spirit. Every
step he ever took was absolutely, perfectly, completely pleasing
and honoring to his Father, to his God. And he did that as my
representative. Steps of perfect obedience. Listen
to what we read in Psalms 85 and 15. Righteousness shall go
before him. and shall set us in the way of
His steps." God treats me, in Christ Jesus,
as though I perfectly obeyed Him and pleased Him. In His life,
He's my representative. In His death, He's my glorious
substitute. And in Christ Jesus, I'm complete. I'm complete, I can lack nothing
at all. Paul went on to say, God sent
forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Not to attempt to redeem, not
to offer to redeem, but to actually redeem. Did he? Did he? Did he really redeem his people?
If not, nobody's going to be saved. Because mercy only comes
on the wings of satisfied justice. Oh, but here's the answer. Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. Oh, can
you see him, child of God? By His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us. All glory to His name. My faith
in time does nothing to make redemption effectual. Christ
redeemed me when He died upon that cross. I then and there
was redeemed. And thank God it was a complete
and everlasting redemption. Therefore God, in very strict
justice, declares, deliver him from going down to the pit. Why? I found the ransom. I found the
ransom, God said. Remember what our Lord told his
disciples? The Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a ransom
for many. And that ransom was Jesus Christ
offering Himself without spot to God. And God says, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. I can demand no
more. Old talk lady put it like this.
Complete atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost thou
hast paid whatever thy people owed. How then can wrath on me
take place if sheltered in his righteousness and sprinkled with
his blood? If you, my discharge procured,
and freely in my room endured, the whole of wrath divine, payment
God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand, and then again at mine. Yes, there is only one channel
from which God's grace flows to helpless sinners. We read
it there, didn't we? We were chosen in Christ, accepted
in Christ, redeemed by Christ, adopted in Christ, and forgiven
in Christ, all according to the riches of God's grace, and that
grace is in Christ Jesus. Christ is my first elect, God
said, then chose our soul in Christ our head, before he gave
the mountains birth or laid foundations for the earth. God who has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, Oh, I'm glad of that. I could not sleep tonight. If
I thought there was any part, any iota of my salvation depending
upon my works, my faithfulness, oh no, but it's according to
God's mercy and grace which is given us in Christ Jesus, I think
I'm secure. I think I'm secure. That was
given us before the foundation of the world. I love the old
hymn that Brother where Brother John Chapman pastors now, the
pastor Rupert, Rupert Reidenbach. He would sing it sometimes at
the conferences in Danville. In the Beloved, in the Beloved,
God's marvelous grace calls me to dwell in this wonderful place.
God sees my Savior and then he sees me. In the Beloved, accepted
and prayed. That's why old Simeon, that old
man in Israel, said he was ready to die. When
he said he was ready to die because he had seen God's salvation,
he wasn't looking at Mary. Mary is no mediator between God
and man. He wasn't looking at Joseph.
He wasn't looking at none of the types or shadows in the temple.
He wasn't looking at none of the sacrifices. No, he was looking
only at one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he
could say. And that's the only reason any
sinner can say. that they can die this night.
Every believer can take the words of Simeon and make them his own.
I'm ready to die. I'm ready to face a just and
holy God. Why? On what grounds? What hope can you have? Because
my eyes have seen God's salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. I've seen
Him by faith. I've embraced Him by faith. I
am His and He is mine. And there's nothing There's nothing
that can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus. Here's the last thing. We see
something of the glory of God's grace in those who experience
it. Do we not? Those who experience
God's grace, this is a shock to the self-righteous, the work-mongers,
the free-willers. Oh, but I rejoice in it. Those
who experience God's salvation without exception, every one
of them are just sinners. Just dead dog sinners. No exception. Jesus came into
this world to save sinners. Joseph, call his name Jesus,
why? He's going to save sinners. Save his people from all their
sins. Grace is not given to anybody but sinners. Only those who are
sick, sin sick, ever feel the touch of the great physician.
The glory of grace is that it saves those who are utterly ruined,
completely helpless, who owe a debt and they have nothing
to pay. And when they have nothing to
pay, Oh, what comfort can a Savior bring to those who never felt
their woe? But when they do, and they wake
up to the reality, by God's grace, He turns on the light, and they
realize for the first time in their life that they owe a debt
to God Almighty, God's justice, God's holiness, and they've got
nothing to pay it with. Nothing. Not the labors of their
hands. Nothing can fulfill the law's
demands. And oh, when they hear the good
news, Jesus freely, frankly, forgives sinners. Man, that's
good to hear. That's good news to them, isn't
it? The glory of God's grace that it saves sinners, only sinners,
and sinners all that come unto God by Him. He's able to save
to the uttermost. You see your calling, brethren.
There's not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many nobler are called than who are. Who are? God hath chosen,
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of
the world, the nobodies, and things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught things
that are that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of
him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto you wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." You
can glory there. You won't go too far there. You
have all the elbow room you could possibly exercise if you glory
in the Lord. See what wonders the glorious
grace of God performs. Solid parcels, or what it exactly
is, of God's sovereign reigning grace. How he changed that Pharisee's
tune. My daddy would tell me sometimes
when I would sass back. Don't he do it once. He was old-fashioned.
There was no standing in the corner. Ooh, I wish I'd have
got off that light. But he'd say, Larry, I tell you what,
buddy, I bet I can change your tune. God Almighty, by his mighty
grace, changed Saul of Tarsus' tune. Saul's song at one time
was like this. Lord, I thank you that I'm not
like other men. I'm a self-made man. I've made
myself to differ, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of
Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching
the law of Pharisee. I'm somebody. You've heard of
my conversation, the way I live my life. In times past, Paul
wrote in the Jews' religion how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion above many my equals in my own nation. But to the
glory of God's reigning grace, Paul changed his tune, didn't
he? Listen to his song now. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb and called me by His grace
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles. Listen to Paul's song now. I determined to know nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. But by the
grace of God I am what I am, and His grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain. God's grace is never in vain.
Never in vain. Your works are in vain. Your
attempts to try to lay a foundation of acceptance for yourself before
a holy God, that's all in vain. Oh, but the grace of God never
is. It was grace that taught my heart to pray and made my
eyes overflow. This grace has kept me to this
day and will not let me go. It is the glory of grace that
saves to the uttermost. To the glory of God's grace that
we will be kept from falling and presented without thought
before the throne of God. It will be all due to the glory
of God's grace that we hear these blessed words from King Jesus
himself. When he says, come ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world, the glory of grace touches a diseased, leprous,
dying sinner and says, be thou clean. The glory of God's grace
hears the cry of one poor blind beggar and he stops dead in his
tracks and opens his eyes that he may see. The glory of God's
grace calls dead sinners to life and they come forth to follow
the Lamb wherever so ever he goeth. We see the glory of God's
grace in every believing sinner. They're each a trophy of that
glorious grace that brings salvation. Their testimony one and all is
the same as the apostles, I am what I am. by the grace of God. Perhaps, perhaps, oh, I pray
that it would be so, perhaps this weekend as these men preach
the gospel of the blessed God that concerns God's Son, he might
be pleased to drop his glorious grace into the heart of some
lost sinner. Wouldn't that be something? Wouldn't
that be something? He may be pleased to reveal his
Son to some sinner. He may do this. He may do this. He may call, He may command the
light to shine out of the darkness and shine into the hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. He might open some poor blind
sinner's eyes just like the Lord opened the eyes of blind Bartimaeus
and the first thing he saw was Jesus Christ, the light of the
world. God might be pleased to do that.
I pray that he will. May God magnify the glory of
his grace in revealing his son to us all, saved and lost alike. Oh, for a fresh, reviving, refreshing
look at that one who was altogether lovely. Oh, Lord. I don't know why, there's no
excuse for it, but I'll tell you the truth. I sometimes take God's grace
for granted. My soul, how can I ever get over
the wonder that He loved me and He called me out of darkness
and gave me life and life to follow Him. Oh, if God is pleased
to do that this weekend, that will certainly make this a good
place to be, won't it? God bless you. God bless you.
Thank you for your teaching.