Paul begins the book of Ephesians
or the epistle or letter with a very plain and yet dogmatic
declaration. I love this first chapter of
the book of Ephesians. Paul says that all spiritual
blessings, what's that? That's everything that comes
to men from God. That's what that is. That all
spiritual blessings were given by our Heavenly Father according
as he hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of
the world. Walker, you can't change that. You can't make that mean something
other than what it says. It's not going to go away. It
hadn't went away in 2,000 years and it's not going to go away
in another 2,000. He begins this book telling us that all spiritual
blessings come down to the church from the Father of Lights. according
as he hath chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of
the world. And then he goes on to tell us,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.
It doesn't come by our decisions. It doesn't come when we reach
some imaginary age of accountability and make our decision for Jesus,
it was according to the good pleasure of his will. What will? His redemptive will. We're talking
about spiritual pleasure. And then he next tells us that
to the praise of the glory of his grace, he made us accepted
in his son, in the blood. Do I have acceptance with God? Well, I've laid up at night thinking
about that. What will God do with this sinner? Does he smile on me as a father? Or does he look down at me with
eyes of judgment and wrath? Well, let me tell you something. To every child of God, every
child of God, you're accepted in Christ. As God looked on his beloved
son, he looks on you. He's made us accepted and beloved,
and it was an act that proceeded from the glory of His grace.
The glory of His grace. It wasn't deserved. It wasn't
merited. It didn't come to place because
I turned over a new leaf. It came as a result of the glory
of God's grace. It didn't come because of our
natural lineage, or our national lineage, or our religious lineage,
but wholly and completely upon the merits of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Fourthly, he tells us in verse
7 that we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. according to the riches of his
grace. Oh, my soul. My sins. My sins. I'm not just talking
about my past sins. They were bad enough. Paul said
it's a shame to even talk about them things. But how often do
you find yourself bragging on them? How often do you find yourself
relishing in the fact that you did this or that? I'm not just talking about our
past sins. They're bad enough. I'm talking about my present
sins and my future sins. Somebody said, well, I don't
believe Christ died for our future sins. Well, which one of your
sins wasn't future when Christ died? When I think about the blood
of Christ, I think about my sins being buried beneath it, being
covered by it. My sins because of his blood,
because of his death are gone. God said there are sins and iniquities
because of what Christ did, because of his death on the cross. All
God's children, all that he chose in Christ before the foundation
of the world and blessed and accomplished in his son on that
cross, he said, I will remember no more. We have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace. Christ died on the cross, he
died the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. Isn't that what the scripture
said? He didn't die to make salvation
possible, he died the just for the unjust that he might bring
us to God. Was his death effectual? Has
he ever brought anybody to God? Yes, he has. Yes, he has. Then it was effectual. His death was the death of our
substitute. His death was the death of our
federal head and representative. All gods elect, Romans 3, 24,
are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. Do you know that none of the
typical sacrifices were ever set forth in any sense of being
universal? People always want to run back
and talk about the sacrifices. Well, let's go back and talk
about it. None of them were ever offered in a universal sense.
Every last one of them were offered for Israel. Is that right? But you say there were Gentile
believers that were not circumcised. The high priest was the high
priest of Israel. The tabernacle was a curse to
any except Israel. And Paul makes this statement
as bold as any who ever preached the gospel. He said, who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect. It's God that justifies. Who did he justify? His elect. And he tells us in Romans 4,
25 that Christ was delivered for our offenses. That's why
he was there. He wasn't there for his offenses.
He was delivered for our offenses. Now watch this. and was raised again for our
justification. And so I say again that in that
particular redemption accomplished by Christ, our representative,
we have forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. And having accomplished the redemptive
will of God, our Lord was carried into heaven itself where He took
His place at the right hand of His Father. And there abounded
toward his redeemed in all wisdom and prudence, making known unto
us the mystery of his redemptive will. If you're here this morning
and you're saved, you're saved because God of his redemptive
will. Not because you would, because
he would. And he would when you wouldn't.
Is that right? Did you know that whatsoever
knowledge you have of the redemptive will of God been given to you
from above? How come you know these things
and the guy right next door don't? How come you know these things
and even them you tell don't know? God's people find themselves,
now listen to me, obtaining an inheritance being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. He comes to the center by the
means he has purposed and the providence he has arranged. and
by the power and presence of his mighty spirit, he calls us
with an irresistible calling. Well, isn't it just possible
that one of God's elect might not respond to the call? No,
it's not possible. It's not possible. For who hath resisted his will? Who art thou, old man, that replies
against God? You're the clay in the hands
of the potter. And by the power and presence
of his mighty spirit, he calls us with an irresistible calling,
a calling that awakens dead sinners. Lazarus was dead. He finally
had to get that clear to his apostles, didn't he? Lazarus
is dead. Now take away the stone. Oh,
if he's dead by now, he stinketh. Well, he stinketh when he was
still alive. Now take away the stone. Lazarus,
come out of there. God's calling is a calling that
awakens dead sinners. It's a calling that turns the
rebel in a different direction. He just got his head down and
he's marching and he's going this way and only God can stop
him. And God just gets hold of him
and turns him around. Huh? It's a calling that creates
within him a new man. A new man. Old man's still there. Old man's not gonna change at
all. I get so tired of hearing people talking about converting
that old man. That old man's not converted.
He'll still be pulling and saying and nagging just like he always
did when you die. He'll still be there. He'll be
whispering in your ear, boy, you're a goner now. Huh? That's the old man. When God
calls a man, he creates within him, in that calling, creates
within him a new man. calling that designates him as
an object of God's eternal affection and blessing. There's no way
to know your election apart from your calling. Did you know that?
That's what Paul tells you in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. I
know your election of God because our gospel came not in word only. But it came in power and in the
Holy Ghost. And you become an example of
all that believe. It's a calling that enables him
to be a partaker of the inheritance of enlightened saints. But Paul
doesn't stop there. He tells us in Ephesians 2.11
to remember where God found us and remember what we were. We were Gentile idolaters, heathens,
idol worshipers, worshipers of strange God, Gentiles. walking
in the vanity of our minds. What is that scripturally? What is it to walk in the vanity
of your mind? I went all the way through the
Bible and I chose these lines. Just listen to them. It means
that we regard vain words. That's what it means. It means
using the name of the Lord in vain. It means to spend your strength
in vain. It means to go after vain things. It means speaking vain words. It means laboring in vain. It means to imagine a vain thing. It means to walk in a vain show. And it means to pray with vain
repetitions. That's what it means, scripturally.
I'm talking about what God says it is to walk in the vanity of
your mind. And we were Gentiles walking in the vanity of our
minds and we were without Christ. We didn't have Christ. We had
poor old Jesus, boy. We didn't have Christ. We didn't
know anything about the Christ of God. The surety, our surety, the surety
of God's elect in the everlasting covenant of grace. We didn't
even know there was a covenant. We were without Christ. We were
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We had no point of
fellowship with Israel and all the promises were to Israel. We were strangers from the covenants
of promise and we had no hope. What hope did we have? Let me
tell you something about your hope. You hope because you come
down an eye. You hope because you made a decision
for Jesus. You hope because you submitted
yourself to baptism. You hope because you joined a
church. You hope because you quit going to the bar and started
going to church. We didn't have a hope. Those
who don't have Christ don't have a hope. Now you said you remember
where I found you. You didn't have Christ and you
didn't have a hope. dangers from the covenant of
promise be having no hope now what's the without god in the
world or muscle no knowledge of god and this is the condition of
every man before we start all but you say not if you were to
let me tell you something he nodded you which is one outwardly He's a Jew which is one inwardly,
in circumcision that of the heart, and in the spirit, not in the
letter. Man not a Jew because he can
trace his lineage back to Abraham. He's a Jew by faith in Christ,
and then if he be Christ, then is he Abraham's seed, and an
heir according to the promise. So in that sense, there were
no Jews. We were all Gentiles. Isn't that
right? Every one of us. And he came and he preached peace
to you which were far off, and to you which were nigh, or thought
you were. For through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, watch this. Chapter three.
For this cause. That's titled my message this
morning. For this cause. For the cause of the redemptive
glory of God. For this cause. For the cause
that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. For this cause. Let me tell you something, we're
not trying to change the course of providence. We're not trying to change the
course of providence. Providence is arranged to this
end. That's what he's talking about
when he said that God created the world through Christ Jesus. These things were all purposed
to this end. We're not trying to change the
course of providence. Providence is arranged to this
end. There is a divine arrangement
taking place in every moment of our lives. Did you know that?
We're just not aware of it. Listen to this. None of us leave
it to himself and no man doth to himself. for whether we live we live under
the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we
live therefore die we're the Lord's that ever dawned on you
has that ever come home to your heart you belong to him you're
his to do with as he will everybody's running around trying to decide
what they're going to do for the Lord Let me tell you something.
If he ever reveals this to you, you're going to go home trembling
in your shoes wondering what your Lord is going to do with
you. What's he going to do with me? And one of the greatest motives
to preach and a great source of comfort during trials and
trouble is the knowledge that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called. according
to his purpose. Paul believed it was the greatest
privilege that could be bestowed upon any of God's redeemed to
be enabled of God to preach to the heathen the unsearchable
riches of Christ. Oh, what a privilege. What a
privilege. To take a man who's less than
the least of all saints and make him an ambassador for Christ. Paul believed this so strongly
that he could even see it and justify it as a prisoner of Rome. He said, I'm a prisoner of the
Lord Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. I'm not a prisoner of Rome. I'm
a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm a prisoner for
you. He sang hymns and worshiped God
in his cell at Philippi, didn't he, at midnight. Boy, not us. We'd been over in
the corner kicking. I'm not here justly. I don't
deserve this. Paul, he sang hymns. Glorified
God. Later on, he found out why God
put him in there to save that Philippian jailer and his whole
house and to form a church at Philippi. He wrote many of his New Testament
epistles from his prison cell in Rome. And Paul rejoiced for
this cause as he saw the fruit of his calling, those God was
pleased to call out of darkness. Those born not of the will of
the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And he rejoiced in
his soul that through the redemption of God's church that even the
principalities and powers and heavenly places, even the angels
fold their wings and listen when the gospel's being preached. And then he tells us down in
verse 14, for this cause, here he says it again, for this cause
I bow my knees unto the Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the source. He's the fountainhead. He's the
one who chose these sinners. He was the one who purposed to
save sinners for the glory of his name. Paul said, even down
here in my jail cell, I'm going to bow my knees. I'm going to
bow my knees unto the Father. the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of whom the whole family, the whole outfit, all of God's
elect in heaven and earth is named. All named. My friend, God has a people.
Do you believe that? I'm telling you, I believe it.
God has a people. A people he gave a being to. In him we live and move and have
our being. He gave us being. And he set
us apart from all the world to be a trophy of his grace. To make one vessel unto honor
and another to dishonor. And he did it out of the same
lump. Same lump. He chose the most unworthy men
on our planet and made them joint heirs with his son. He chose the chief of sinners
and made him a child of God. And my desire, Paul said, verse
16, is that he would grant you, that he would grant you, he's
talking to me. He's talking to you. He's talking
to any man who dares believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. is
that he would grant unto you, according to the riches of his
glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner
man. Not the old man, not that son
of Adam, but the new man, that inner man, Christ in you, the
hope of God. I don't know how much of this
you really believe. I know we get our doctrine all
straight and get all of our I's dotted and our T's crossed. Somebody ask us, we can say we
do this and we do that. I don't know how much we really
believe. But let me tell you something.
Children of God are born of God. They're born of God. It says
in John chapter one, he said, as many as received him, that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, to them gave he power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Nobody's
gonna receive him and nobody's gonna believe on his name unless
they've been given power to do that. And if God gives power
to you to do that, he's giving power to you to become what you
were in his purpose before the foundation of the world, sons
of God. But he don't stop there. Now
watch this, John 1 verse 13, which were born. Every one of
them. Nobody received him. Nobody believed
on his name and nobody received power to become the sons of God
until they were born. How were we born? Well, not of
the will of the flesh and not of blood. You're not saved because
you're a white head. You're not saved because your
name's Pruitt. It's not of blood and it's not
of the will of the flesh. This, you can will all you want
to, but you can't will a spiritual birth within. You can't do it.
And it's not of the will of man. It's not a whole house full of
people willing for you to be saved. I'm telling you, I know,
I know from my own experience that, Walter, you would, that
your children be born of God. If it was in your power to make
it happen, you would. But it ain't. It's not of the
will of the flesh, and it's not of the will of man. It's of God. It's of God. And it's by way of this new birth
that fallen men and women are given the ability to become sons
of God. What does that mean? That means
the right and privilege. When he said, I gave power, That
word power has to do with the right and privilege to be sons
of God. And it's based strictly on the
merits of Christ our Redeemer and Christ our righteousness.
And it also means ability. The ability to become sons of
God. It's given to us by a new birth
and by the power and presence of the Holy Ghost who makes us
able. He makes us meet. to have fellowship with the saints
in light. And this new birth is brought
to pass by the gospel seed. Now you can stomp on that and
spit on that all you want to, but I'm gonna show it to you
in the scriptures. This seed is ministered by men and made
effectual by God. That's what the Bible teaches.
In 1 Peter 1.23, Peter writes, being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and
abideth forever. And then in verse 24, he tells
us why this must be. For all flesh is grass, and all
the glory of man is the flower of the grass. And the grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever. Now listen. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you. Isn't that what that
says? Turn with me to 2 Corinthians.
I wanna show you something over here in 2 Corinthians 3. I wanna
be as clear as I can on this point. The new birth is the result
of the gospel seed planted in the hearts of chosen sinners.
And it's ministered by men, but made effectual by God. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse
3. He said he starts out this chapter
by telling them he didn't need papers to recommend him. He didn't
need letters from the Pope. He didn't need letters from the
Baptist Commission. He said, you're my letter. You're
my letter. Verse three, for as much as you
are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, now watch
this, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with
the spirit of the living God, Not in tables of stone, but in
fleshly tables of the heart. You see that? He ministered it,
but he couldn't write it. The spirit of the living God
did that. And such trust, verse four, have we through Christ
to God. That is, he trusted in this.
He trusted in this was God's meaning, and he trusted in it.
Not that we're sufficient of ourselves to think anything of
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. That just clears a
bell to me. In his first epistle to the Corinthians,
Paul said in chapter three and verse five, who then is Paul
and who is Apollos? But ministers by whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave, to every man. Now watch this. I have planted. What did he plant? He planted
seed in the master's field. That's what he did. He planted. That's what ministers do, isn't
it? They plant the seed. I can stand up here and talk
all day long about the gospel. I can talk to you. I can tell
you. I can recite it. I can take you in the Bible.
I can turn to it. I can read it to you. But I can't
make the seed grow. I planted, he said, and I polished
water. But God gave the increase. Pastor, teachers, and evangelists
are given to the church by the resurrected Christ. And they're
given for the perfecting, the maturing of the saints, for their
spiritual growth, for the work of the ministry, and for the
edifying of the body of Christ. Well, how long we got to listen
to them? Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That perfect
man. People got the idea. somewhere
back hundreds of years ago, that man was progressively sanctified. He's not. And that's not what
this scripture's talking about. This perfect man, that he's coming
to this perfect man, he's talking about Christ. Till he comes to
the understanding of his hope, which is a perfect man, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the only perfect man there
is. We're made perfect in him. In Him, we're without sin. In
Him, we stand before the Father, and He can't find any hint of
sin in us. Unto the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ. In Christ, I have a perfect righteousness. In Christ, I have a perfect record. There's nothing on it. There's
nothing to accuse me of. He's my representative. I was
in Him. I was in Him. In Him, I have a perfect justification,
a perfect righteousness. That's the perfect man. And this
work that I'm talking about, this preaching, is there not
a cause, Paul said? Is this not cause enough that
God from all eternity chose to save a people for His glory?
Is there not a cause? For this cause, he said, I'm
suffering in this prison. For this cause, I've given up
all things. For this cause, I come to you. Is there not a cause? Oh, my soul, when I think about
what's been entrusted to us, it's beyond description. I don't
even know how to begin to describe the glory of God in the salvation
of sinners. Now, he said, for this cause,
I bow my knees unto the Father. And I pray, my prayer is that
he'll strengthen you with might in that inner man by the power
of his spirit. Because that's the only way you're
going to be able to make it. You can't do it on your own.
And I'm telling you, this work is not contrary to the work of
the spirit. It's in unity with him. Look back over to our text in
Ephesians 3. to be strengthened with might
by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your
hearts by faith. I don't believe in some disembodied
spirit that dwells in us, speaking to us in voices and visions of
the night. I just, I don't believe that. And I don't believe this disembodied
spirit speaks to us in some heavenly language that you have to be
a believer to understand. I don't believe that either.
Christ dwells in our hearts by faith. If you're looking for
something else, the devil may give it to you. But this is what
God has for you. Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith. The Spirit of God, He doesn't
speak of Himself when He comes. He takes of the things of mine,
Christ says, and He shows them unto you. What does He show us? Well, He shows us how God can
be just and justify all those that believe. He shows us how
chosen sinners might be righteous before a holy God in His Son. He shows us the redemptive will
of God being accomplished by the God-man. He shows us our
weakness and His strength that we might lean on Him more and
more and more. He shows us our ignorance and
His wisdom, our sins and His righteousness, our rebellion
and His faithfulness. Christ dwells in our hearts by
faith, and that faith by the strength of His Spirit in the
inner man. And as those things take place, we shall be rooted
and grounded in love. In love. William Newell, old preacher. Born back in the mid-1800s. He was pretty old when he died. He didn't die until about 1952
or three. But he wrote this old hymn. Oh,
the love that drew salvation's plan. I don't believe salvation's
a plan in the sense that the Baptists are preaching it, but
this plan is the purpose of God. This is what God has mapped out
to do, and this is what God's gonna do. And he said, oh, the
love that drew salvation's plan, and oh, the grace that brought
it down to man, and oh, the mighty gulf that God did span. what god established in the election
of jacob do you know what it is they do more that they had done
any good or any will that the purpose of god according to election
match you know what god established in jacob that he didn't establish
in the south he loved jacob and that was it That's exactly what it says.
The elder gonna serve the younger, for it is written, Jacob have
I loved. And I tell you, if God saved
you and called you with that calling, and he gives you that
understanding, and he abounds toward you in all prudence and
in all wisdom of that mystery, here's what you gonna learn. You're gonna learn to love God,
and you're gonna wind up loving one another. No matter what. No matter what. Well, I could
love him, but you know what he said to me? Who cares? Who cares? Do I need to go back and remind
you of what you said to God and said about him and did toward
him? Be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. I'm telling you the truth. You're
not going to sit down one of these days and say, let me just
write it all down here. I'm going to write down all my
doctrine that I believe. No. I'm telling you the truth.
And that's what Paul said. That's what he said. And that
love's not a love because of what others do or how others
act, but it's a love for Christ's sake, for this cause.