the Lord Jesus Christ visited
a man on one occasion. And he said to that man, this
day is salvation, come to this house. And I was thinking to myself,
what do you say to people that you've just met for the first
time? and people that you might not get another chance to meet. What do you say to people who
have stop their busy lives to give you a few minutes of their
precious time so that they can listen to your voice and to your
thoughts and to your ideas. And that's quite a privilege
that you have given me here today, coming the miles that you've
come just to hear me speaking. And I don't take that privilege
lightly. I appreciate the fact that you've
come here and I'm grateful for the opportunity of being able
to speak to you. But that still doesn't answer
the question. What am I going to say? What
do you say to someone who you perhaps only meet for one time? I think you have to tell them
the truth. as you understand it. I think there's no point
in messing around and talking about things that are unimportant.
I think that there's an obligation that is bestowed upon me to speak
about the Lord Jesus Christ and what he means to me and what
I understand about who he is. And I think it's important that
we speak about that subject that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about
when he went into the house of Zacchaeus. This day is salvation
come to this house. So we speak about Christ and
we speak about salvation and we speak about the things that
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Salvation is an amazing subject. It's glorious when we consider
what it entails, what it represents as a theme, as a concept to men
and women like us in this world today. Because none of us have
any right to imagine that our lives will extend for any more
than basically a few short years. and we have all known friends
and family who have passed out of this world, this scene of
time, who have gone to the grave, who have entered into eternity,
whatever that might be, whatever that might mean, whose presence
we no longer have with us. And what if there is a salvation
to be had? What if there is in this concept
of salvation, in this idea of God, God's purposes, God's plan,
a message which we hear in time that has an effect for eternity? And I believe the Bible speaks
about that message. I believe that salvation is a
very real thing, that God has done things, that God has acted,
and that God has revealed himself in such a way that men and women
like us can hear a message that will transform our lives and
give us a hope for eternity, so that we don't simply regard
the days of our lives here as being the end at all, but that
there is a preparation made in these days. and that salvation
can indeed come to this house. It did for Zacchaeus. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself testified to that. And if all I say this
afternoon in your hearing is to repeat the fact that the Lord
Jesus Christ himself believed in salvation, then that ought
to be enough for us to give ourselves the benefit of these few minutes
to hear what the Bible has to say about it. It's a marvellous
statement and yet I greatly fear that the subject of salvation
is much misunderstood in our present day. It's often spoken
about in churches. There are 10,000 preachers that
will happily talk to us about salvation, talk to us about our
souls, talk to us about what needs to be done to appropriate
the benefits that God wants to give us. And there will be a
whole number, a whole spread of ideas conveyed to congregations,
to individuals, to study groups, to Bible classes, to Sunday schools,
throughout our land, throughout the world, talking about what
salvation is and how we might get it and how we can prepare
for what is to come. But really, surely what is important
is what does the Bible say about it? And what has God said about
it? And what does the Lord Jesus
Christ say? And what do the apostles who
give us the message of Christ first hand have to say about
this subject? And I want to start, if I may,
by pointing one basic thing out to you as far as this idea, this
concept of salvation is concerned. And I'm using a verse which comes
from Isaiah 49 just to show you what I mean and to prove my point.
It says this, verse six of Isaiah 49. And he said, and it's God
that is speaking, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my
servant. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus
who was yet to come, who was to come. This was a prophetic
word about the coming Messiah. And he says, and he said, it
is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob. and to restore the preserved
of Israel. That's those people from amongst
Israel that the Lord called his remnant people, who called the
flock of his people. To restore the preserved of Israel. Then he goes on to say, I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles. So that speaks
about not only the house of Jacob, but those beyond the confines
of Israel then, the house of Israel into the nations, the
Gentiles. I will also give thee for a light
to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end
of the earth. Now the point I want to make
from this verse is very simple. The Lord God, the triune God,
is saying here concerning the Messiah, to the Messiah, prophetically
saying to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth. So that tells us
something very important. It tells us that salvation is
more than a concept. Salvation is a person. Salvation
is a person. The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is God's salvation. And I want us to remember that
as an opening principle as we go through and think about a
few thoughts that I have on this subject. It's not a thing. We do speak of salvation as a
doctrine. And that is not inappropriate,
but it's a doctrine in the sense of being the teaching about Christ,
the teaching of the man, the teaching of the accomplishments,
the teaching of the work that he has done, the teaching of
the teaching that he has given to us. so that when we have doctrine
it's Christ that is to be the focus and to be the centre of
our attention when it comes to the preaching of salvation. It
is thinking specifically about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what that death has attained and accomplished for the people
to whom salvation, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, was sent. In Isaiah 61, in verse 10, we
read these words. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. The garments of salvation and
the robe of righteousness speaks of the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. He is the one that is leading
us into this acceptance with God. He is the one who says,
I am the door, I am the access, I am the way, I am the way, the
truth and the life. So that no man comes to the Father,
no man gets salvation, no man can experience these things that
the Lord has laid up in store for them that love Him except
those who come by the way which He has specified. So I don't
know if any of you have got your Bibles with you, but if you have,
I'm going to be reading from Ephesians chapter one. And you
can turn there if you like. I've just got a few verses that
I want to read from Ephesians chapter one. Paul opens his epistles invariably
with the same sort of greeting and here we find it in the opening
verses of Ephesians chapter 1. It says, to the saints which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Let me just pause there
for a moment. We're going to just think about
who this is addressed to, because it's always important in Scripture
that we see who it's addressed to. Because if you want to know
what it's talking about, if you want to know what it means, it's
a pretty good idea to know who it was written to. And he is
writing it to the Ephesians, which is why this book has the
title, The Book of Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians,
but he also says and there. So, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. That's lovely because that means
that you and I have got the opportunity of appropriating this book to
ourselves as well. and the Lord is speaking to us
today. This isn't a history book, this
isn't a message which is in some way constrained to a certain
period of time or a certain group of people or a certain historical
situation. This is for us. And that speaks
about the vitality of the message of the gospel for us today. We can look at this and we can
take it from the tip of Paul's pen right to our own hearts as
if he had sent it expressly and explicitly to us personally. He says, to the saints which
are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love. having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even
in him. in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will,
that we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted
in Christ. to whom ye also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise. which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. Amen. May God bless to us this reading of his word. It's
a pretty amazing passage this when we think about it and when
we get into it. The fact that the Apostle Paul
wrote this letter and he gave this greeting in a verse and
then he went straight into this amazing piece of theology, amazing
piece of doctrine. in which he is talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ and talking about the salvation that we have
found. The gospel, he says in verse
13, the gospel of your salvation, the good news of your salvation. And this message is written to
men and women like you and like me. And the other thing that
I want to just draw your attention to is that when the apostle is
writing this, I made a quick calculation as I was thinking
about what we would talk about here. The little words, words
like our, and words like ye, and words like we, and words
like us, pepper these verses with such an amazing frequency
that it shows us the personalness about this message. This is a
message which is real and true and genuine and effectual and
vibrant and urgent and full of realism. And if we read these
words as some sort of piece of prose or some sort of archaic
historical treatise or some sort of intellectual exercise, we
will miss entirely what this is about. This is about you and
me. This is about what Christ has
done for sinners like us. And I counted them, that's just
the kind of person I am. 17 times in 14 verses he speaks
these personal pronouns. He says, In verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he's given
his greeting, he's addressed his epistle, his letter, and
immediately, bang, he is straight in to talk about the Lord Jesus
Christ. and he praises the Lord's name. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And I think that we
could probably not need to go any further than just this opening
verse when we think about what Paul has immediately said in
this verse. But I'm going to speed on through,
and I'm going to try and cover some of the themes that are contained
in these first 14 verses. But I want to be quick about
it. I don't want to weary you in any way. But I want to draw
your attention to this, that he says in there, that we have
been blessed, and it's us again, blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us, blessed us,
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. How many spiritual blessings?
Every spiritual blessing. that we are blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now that's
pretty broad. That's pretty comprehensive. Paul is immediately stating to
these Ephesians and stating to people like us, sinners like
us, that in Christ, every spiritual blessing is ours. Now you talk
about an inheritance. I don't know about houses and
cars and property and titles and lands, but that's quite an
inheritance. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, not even on the face of the earth, in heavenly places. And we know that God is a spirit.
We know that God is a spirit, eternal, infinite, all glorious. and in the realms of the presence
of God where everything is spiritual, where everything is glorious,
where everything acknowledges and recognises the spiritual
truth of God, Paul is saying that those blessings which exist
in the presence of God are our possession in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now I think that's pretty amazing but we're not going to
pause there because we're going to rush on and see what else
he has to say. But here at the very outside,
he is highlighting the reason why praise and thanks and honour
is due to Christ. Because everything that we can
have, everything that we might derive of a knowledge of God,
of a portion from God, of an inheritance from God, Everything
that will prepare us to dwell in that heavenly realm comes
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hence he is called our salvation. So let's keep that principle
in mind. If God is going to give us all
these spiritual blessings, then it puts our flesh into its proper
perspective. We imagine that we can gain spiritual
blessings because of the things that we do, because of what this
flesh wishes for or aspires to or wants. We imagine that we
can win and gain and earn. spiritual blessings because of
something that we tangibly, physically exercise ourself in doing. That's
not what Paul is saying here. Paul is saying this is good news,
this is a gospel of salvation because all spiritual blessings
are a free gift in Christ. Now I don't think that Paul has
exhausted these all spiritual blessings in the 14 verses that
we're going to look at, but he has made a start. And what I
want to do for a few minutes is just think about some of these
principal spiritual blessings, not all of them, because there's
many more, but some of the principal ones that Paul immediately goes
on to speak about. And he touches, I think, sweetly
upon those that are most foundational, that are most basic to a proper
understanding of the salvation that we have in Christ. So what do you say to new people
that you're meeting for the first time? that you might never see
again. You tell them the truth. You
tell them about salvation. And you tell them about the Lord
Jesus Christ. So if you will give me your attention
for a few minutes, that's exactly what I propose to do. And the
first thing that is in my mind, according to Paul's message here,
we find in verse four, and it is election. Election is a spiritual
blessing. Election is what we're talking
about here in verse four. And it says there in verse 4,
according as he, that is God, that's who we're speaking about,
God the Father, or in truth the triune God, God Jehovah. Because we could take these verses
in another way and I could divide them up and say that here we
see a picture of God the Father's work, here we see a picture of
God the Son's work, and here we see a picture of God the Holy
Spirit's work. and we may touch upon that as
we are going through, but this work of salvation, although the
Lord Jesus Christ effected it in the sense that he accomplished
the obligations incumbent upon him as the fulfiller of the covenant
of peace, the covenant of God's grace, the purpose of God's grace,
he was only one part of the full covenant. The Father is involved
in that covenant, the Son is involved in the covenant, and
God the Holy Spirit. It's a triune work. But here
we see God first being spoken of in verse four. According as
he hath chosen us, there's that us again, in him before the foundation
of the world. Chosen in Christ by the Father
and this speaks of election. Now sometimes when you hear the
word election used you will hear it coupled with the word eternal. So we speak about eternal election. Election just means choice and
that's the reason why we use that when we're talking about
politics because The public are given a choice about who we want
to elect to a particular position. But when we're thinking biblically,
when we're thinking scripturally, that election doesn't come from
the individual. It's very clear from what Paul
says here. He is saying, So the election
is God's work. In a democracy, we all claim
that we have the right to choose our leaders. Whether that's true
or not, or whether it's a false choice, as many people would
suggest, is another matter, and we're not talking politics. But
as far as biblical election is concerned, It's God who makes
the choice. So God has chosen certain individuals
and he has chosen them, we're told, in eternity. Because that's
what that phrase, before the foundation of the world, means.
It means in a time before time. It means before the world was
ever made. Now, that ought to at least give
us some pause for thought. that what this is saying is that
God has a people whom he has chosen, that he has chosen to
bless with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And this is the message of eternal
election, that God has a people. And Paul goes straight into that.
There are many who would say, These things are too deep. These
things are too profound. These things are beyond the comprehension
of the everyday Joe or Josephine. And these ought not to be taught
publicly and explicitly because they'll confuse people. Well,
Paul didn't think like that. He'd hardly got drawn breath. He was probably still on the
first ink dip when he wrote this in his manuscript. And what he
is telling us is that God had a chosen people that before time
he elected and he placed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He committed
to the care of Christ. It is an eternal work and he
goes on to say that this choice is to an end. Again, he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that in order to
this end we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So here we see the purpose of
God's choice. He is choosing a people. It's
not a universal choice. He hasn't chosen everyone because
he has chosen to this end that there will be unholiness imparted. that there will be a righteousness
bestowed, that there will be a glory given, that there will
be an all spiritual blessings in heavenly places imparted to
those individuals that are chosen by Him in love. And this of course
is the great work of God. There are those who teach that
God's love is universal, that God loves everybody. There
are those that teach that because we are mere creations, God loves
us. That message is not found on
the pages of scripture. Now I know you will have a favourite
verse or two that might seem to suggest that God loves everyone. But if you think about the way
in which God has revealed himself down through the ages, There
were hundreds and thousands and millions of people to whom God
never even sent a minister, never even sent a messenger as he dedicated
his revelation exclusively to the Jews. And there were times
in the New Testament where the Lord said to an apostle, no,
you won't go there because I'm going to send you somewhere else.
And why would a God of love do that? Why would a God who designed
and desired the salvation of everyone do that? The message
here is clear. Paul is saying something very
explicit. He is saying that because of
the love of God, God has made a choice of certain individuals,
placed them in Christ before the world ever began. and he
did so to this end that he might enable them to be holy and without
blame before him. So when God gathers his people,
when God gathers his people through the preaching of the gospel,
it is to make us holy. Not because he makes us do holy
things, but because, remember those garments of salvation?
Remember those garments of righteousness that we spoke about in Isaiah?
because he grants that holiness, that righteousness to that people
of his choice because he loves us and because Christ accomplished
everything that was required on our part. Let's move on. What else is involved in these
blessings that we are given? Well, look at verse 5 and 6. not accepted because of what
we do, not accepted because of the decisions that we make, not
because of a hand raised at an evangelistic meeting or a going
out to the front to sit on some sort of penitence pew or some
sort of humiliation that is taken and particular form of words
that are spoken, That's not where holiness comes from. That's not
where righteousness is obtained. It is gifted. It's a gift of
God to those whom he has loved before time, whom he accepts
for Christ's sake. He accepts us because the Lord
Jesus Christ has done everything that is needful on the cross
on our behalf. And that word predestination,
That word predestinated that Paul uses here, it's a biblical
word. And if you're going to find problems
with predestination, you're going to have to find problems with
Paul. And you're going to have to find problems with God. Because
this is a Holy Spirit inspired book that the Apostle Paul is
writing to these whom God has chosen. And he is saying, that
God, before the foundation of the world, regardless of any
idea or concept of man's individual free will, had chosen a people
whom he predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, to be
made Christ-like, to be made as holy as Christ, as righteous
as Christ, as perfect as Christ, and before any of those individuals
were ever born, ever set foot upon this earth, he had predestinated
them. to obtain all these spiritual
blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ. So here we speak about adoption
in these verses, and this is another spiritual blessing from
heavenly places because God himself has called a people his people,
have called a people his children, taken them into relationship
with him, not on the basis of creation, but on the basis of
adoption. We're all God's creatures. Whether
it's men, women, children, or the animals that populate the
face of this globe, we are all God's creatures. But this relationship
is different. This is not the relationship
of the hand of the creator. This is an adoption. This is
bringing people into the family of God by another criteria. And that, by another criterion,
And that is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see that
this new relationship is spoken of as being according, verse
five, to the good pleasure of His will. Whose will? God's will. God chose it this
way. We are chosen by Him in Christ. We are adopted by Him according
to His will and to His purpose. Now, you see, there is a sense
in which the natural man recoils against that, reacts against
it, because we all like to think of ourselves as individual, sentient
beings with the right to choose our own destiny. How dare this God? Who does he
think he is? That he is going to choose one
person and pass over another? That he is going to grant the
gospel of salvation to one person and not to another? That he is
going to give salvation to one and leave somebody else out? That all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places aren't universally granted to everyone? Well no,
how could they possibly be? Is there such a place as heaven?
Is there such a place as hell? Who populates heaven? Who populates
hell? Surely, if hell is real, then
the inhabitants of hell are not the possessors of all spiritual
blessings and heavenly places in Christ. God is sovereign in
these matters. And whether we like it or not,
as his creatures, he has revealed himself in this way, that he
has a chosen people, that he has an election of grace, and
he is a people that he has called his children by adoption according
to the pleasure of his will. Let's see if there are other
blessings here for us. Look at 7, verses 7 and 8. In whom? This is speaking about
the acceptance that we have in the Beloved. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Beloved. Remember what he said at that
time when John was baptising him, the voice came from heaven,
this is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. So the Apostle
Paul picks up this title of the Lord Jesus Christ here and calls
him the Beloved. And we are made accepted, we
are made holy, we are made perfect. in Christ, by God, because we
are in the Beloved. So he continues, in whom? Verse
7, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. Now what is it
that separates us from God? it's our sins. What is it that
separated Adam from God and Eve from God? What is it that separates
mankind from God? What was it that necessitated
the exclusion, not just from the garden, not just from the
Garden of Eden, but from the presence of God? That's the symbolism
that is effected by the angel that is set before the entrance
to stop the way of access to the tree of life. The picture
there is that a separation has taken place, a gulf has been
fixed between God and man because of sin. And because of sin, because
of God's holiness, and because of the sin that fell upon the
Adamic race, the people of God's creation, by that principle of
federal headship by which sin passed down through every generation,
we are born in sin. We are born as the enemies of
God. Now there is only one way in
which we can ever be at peace with God, and that is if this
sin problem is dealt with. And that's what this verse is
talking about. So whenever we're talking about salvation, we have
to talk about the forgiveness of sins. Now I can forgive your
sin and you can forgive my sin until the cows come home. The
question is this, if we are going to have salvation, if we are
going to have a place in the presence of God, if we are going
to be holy like him, then it's him who has to forgive us. It
is God who has to forgive us because really and truly we might
have sinned against one another but it's against God that that
grave sin has been committed. And so he says, in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. So here
the connection between the forgiveness of sins and the redemption by
blood is clearly set before us. The Apostle Paul is saying that
the forgiveness of sin results from the redemption of blood. What is that? That is to buy
back, that's what redeem means. And here we're told that the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ has paid the price for
our sins. It has enabled, the word that
is sometimes used is propitiated. It has set aside God's wrath,
not by ignoring it, but by dealing with it. The Lord Jesus Christ
took our sins, paid the price for our sins. The Apostle Paul
in another letter to the church at Corinth said that Christ took
our sins in his own body on the tree. And by taking our sins
and paying for those sins, the forgiveness of God towards us
was obtained. And so that's the meaning of
the purchase of blood that the apostle is here speaking about.
The redemption through his blood, that our sins are forgiven according
to the riches of his grace. Now grace just means that God
was good to us. He made a way of escape. He made
a way of deliverance. And that way of deliverance,
that way of escape, is his goodness. Not because it's merited, not
because it's earned, not because we deserve it more than someone
else, but simply on the basis of his good pleasure. The good
pleasure of his will, he has established a way of salvation
for those whom he placed in Christ. And it comes by the way of redemption. the redemption that is found
in Christ, wherein he hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and
prudence. And I think that's a lovely phrase
there that the apostle uses because he says that this is a wise plan. You know, people will say that's
a terrible plan. Who could ever have conceived
such a thing as that? To choose someone and pass over
another? That's a plan which is awful. Gnos is the apostle. That's a
plan that is full of wisdom. That's a plan that is essentially
prudent. And why is that such a wise,
prudent plan? Well, for this simple reason,
that if God had left it up to the free will of the individual, There would not have been one
of us in the presence of God in heaven for eternity. Not one
of us. Because there is nothing in us
that would ever have chosen God. There is nothing in us that would
ever have reached out to Him. It was an impossibility. There
was an enmity, that sin which had entered into our souls, that
wickedness which was part of our inheritance from Adam, that
evil nature which is the nature of our humanity and the condition
of our flesh. It always was in rebellion against
God. It always said, away with this
man. We will not have this man. We
will not have this Lord. We will not have this God to
reign over us. And so our natural inclinations
would always have kept that gulf, that separation in place, except
God had reached across and delivered us from our sins. So salvation
is a gift. It cannot be earned. It would
never be earned because none of us would ever endeavour to
serve God, even if we could. Look at verse nine. I want to read from verse 9 through
12. because here we see, we've thought a little bit about the
Father choosing, we've thought a little bit about the Lord Jesus
Christ's redemption, the fact that he came, that he went to
the cross, that he carried our sins on the cross, and now the
Apostle Paul, to get, as it were, the comprehensiveness of this
message summarised in these few verses, speaks to us about the
work of the Holy Spirit, because he's going on in verses nine
to 12 to speak to us about conversion. And this is the change that is
made in the hearts and lives of men and women upon the basis
of the work of Christ, which was upon the basis of the choice
of God. And there is a beautiful unity
here in this work. God has a chosen people. I don't
know who those people are. I don't know their names. We
do know that their names are recorded in the Lamb's Book of
Life. We do know that they have been recorded there from before
the world ever began. So there's no new names written
down in heaven. But here, in God's choice, in
God's elective purpose, a people were committed into the care
of Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ, to fulfil His covenant
obligations to His Father, goes into the world, becomes a man,
takes upon Himself our flesh, though perfect in all His way,
the only proper substitute that ever there could be, and He goes
to the cross, and for the sake of the love of God towards that
chosen people, he takes their sins and he carries them all
away. He deals with that sin problem. That sin is condemned in Christ,
the debt is paid by the blood of Christ and that people are
without sin in the sight of God. because he sees that people in
Christ. He sees that people as the people
that were redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. And now the
Holy Spirit comes and the Holy Spirit takes the work of Christ
and he applies it to the hearts and to the souls and to the minds
of men and women through the preaching of the gospel. And
that's what Paul is going on to speak about in verse nine
to 12. What does he say? having made
known unto us the mystery of his will. What was this will? The fact that he, through the
good pleasure of his will, had predestinated a certain group
of people to salvation, to bestow upon them that holiness, that
righteousness, that purity in Christ because their sins were
all forgiven, having made known unto us the mystery of his will
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
You know, I don't think Paul could be any more emphatic about the power of this message. if he had used any other words
whatsoever. But here he says this is purposed
in himself. Here is the purpose of God being
manifested. He has made known unto us the
mystery of his will, this eternal covenant, this eternal purpose,
this eternal election and the work of Jesus Christ in salvation.
And who makes it known? The Holy Spirit. How does he
do it? By the preaching of the gospel. by the preaching of this
message that is conveyed, this truth that is conveyed by the
Lord Jesus Christ to the Apostles, by the Apostles to the churches
of which the church at Ephesus was one of them. and those that
are faithful in Christ Jesus. It comes to people like us as
well. That in the dispensation of the
fullness of times, that is now, that is the gospel age that the
apostle is writing in, that these Ephesians were living in, and
which we live in, because this is the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
that he might unify this people, this chosen people. Where are
these people? Do they all live in Sydney? Do
they all live in Australia? Do they all live in the English-speaking
world? No. they're scattered throughout
the whole world. They're in every tribe, they're
in every nation, they're in every land. And this Gospel message
had to go out, as it did go out, by the work of the apostles.
It's been out there for 2,000 years and it has been calling,
effectually, those that were chosen in the eternal purpose
of God to hear this message, to have this mystery revealed
to them. that they might believe it and
that they might receive these spiritual blessings in heavenly
places that God had set apart as their personal privileged
inheritance. 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 which
are in heaven and which are on earth even in him. He goes on,
verse 11, in whom, that's Christ again, also we have obtained
an inheritance, all these spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. Verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. And that's what it is to trust
in Christ. That's what it is, as simple
as that, to trust. that this salvation, this one
who is called the salvation of God, is the way, the access into
all of these spiritual blessings that the people of God have had
set apart for them. The people of God's adoptive
choice, the people of God's redemptive purpose, the people for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ died, because regardless of what they, Popular
theologians of our day might say, neither was the love of
God universal, nor the death of Christ universal in its purpose
or extent, but the Lord Jesus Christ died for those that were
committed into his hand by the sovereign purpose of God. and
God the Holy Spirit sends this message of the gospel to one
and to another here and there throughout this world that they
might hear and that they might believe. Do you know why I get
so excited about this? Tom, you know why I get so excited
about this? Because this is the means whereby
the Lord gathers his people. This message, this message, this
is it. This is it. Now, I'm not going
to ask you if you believe it or not, because in a sense that
doesn't matter. That's God's work. Because the
natural man, the natural woman, in ourselves we will always be
opposed to this. until the Lord, by the power
of His Spirit, opens our heart to receive it. But the exciting
thing for me is that I get to preach it, that I get to say
it, that I get people who will give me an hour of their time
to hear this message, so that the Lord, if He is merciful to
your souls, will teach these truths, this mystery, to your
heart, and make it real for you and show you what you've got
in Christ. Wouldn't that be a wonderful
thing if the Lord showed you tonight that you were an heir
of all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ? I'd say so. I'd say so. This great work of the Holy Spirit
in taking this message of the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ
spoke to Nicodemus about it, he says. The wind blows where
it listeth. You can hear the sound of it,
but you don't know where it's come from and you don't know
where it's going. He's speaking about the Holy Spirit. He's speaking
about listeth. We don't use that word anymore. I suppose, any of you mess around
in boats? No, not really. You know what
happens when water gets into the hull of a boat? What does
it do? What does the boat do? Lists,
doesn't it? Does the boat list because it
wants to? Or does it list because the water is pushing it over?
You see, it's the water that decides where the boat's going. And invariably, that boat is
going to the bottom of the sea once it starts to list. Because
it's the water that enforces the direction. And that's what
the Holy Spirit does. He is the one. He goes where
he listeth. He goes where he wants. And he
will go. to this land and to this land,
to this town, to this city, to this place, in this time and
in that time. And he is going around gathering
the Lord's elect, gathering that people for whom Christ died,
revealing these truths to them, opening their hearts and applying
this gospel of salvation to their life's experience. The Holy Spirit,
it is, that quickens. The Apostle Paul is going to
speak a little bit more, and we don't have time this evening,
but just look in your Bibles, if you've still got them open,
at the beginning of the second chapter of Ephesians. Look what
it says there. It says, you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. Right? You were dead in your sins. but
the Holy Spirit has made you alive, made you alive to hear. That's the meaning there. Made
you alive to desire after these things, which in your dead state
you never would, you never could. Made you to hear, made you to
see, made you to understand, quickened us together. Verse
8, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast, not of our doing, not of our flesh, not of even
our will. but of God's will, of the accomplishment
of God's good pleasure to make for himself a people whom he
calls his children who are holy and blameless before him in the
love which he has for them. We are called the flock of God. We are called his purchased possession
because the Lord Jesus Christ has done a work for the salvation
of his people and we are that people. whom the Holy Spirit
has revealed these truths to, has opened our hearts and caused
us to trust in the efficacy, the accomplishments of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross, and revealed to us this great purpose
of grace and salvation, whereby this mystery of salvation, which
is much spoken of and much understood, is revealed to be the very purpose
of God to gather his people for himself. Thank you very much
for giving me your time and your attention. As I said at the beginning,
I count it a privilege to be able to speak to you. And I trust
that these things will be profitable to your souls. Amen.