And I began immediately to ask
God to give me grace, not to just fill in time, but to give
me a message for you. Now, I want you to open your
Bibles to Ephesians chapter one, and I want to talk to you for
a few minutes about grace alone. Grace alone. Ephesians, the first
chapter, just hold your Bibles open to this portion of scripture. I, uh, When I was 19 years old,
I was required to prepare sermons for homiletics pastoral theology
class. And I always tried my best to
prepare the messages that were needed in the class. And this
was one of the messages I prepared then. The outline, I have no
idea where I got it. but it was apparently a pretty
good one. Some years later, I found out Brother George Fletcher used
this very outline from Ephesians 1 when he preached for Brother
Mayhem back in the 50s. And I found that out because
when Brother Mayhem went out to preach for folks in Newport
News, Virginia, Brother Fletcher was in his 90s, came in a wheelchair,
and he preached the same outline. If you wanna jot it down, it
will work well anytime you're studying Ephesians 1. God's grace
and salvation, purpose by the Father, purchased by the Son,
performed by the Spirit. Let's look at these first 14
verses of Ephesians chapter one. The apostle Paul begins, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. Paul, God's
messenger, by God's will, to the saints which are at Ephesus,
to you who believe, You're God's saints, God's holy ones. All
who believe on Christ are sanctified in Christ Jesus. To the saints
which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, there's
another characteristic of all who are born of God. They are
saints, they are faithful, they're in Christ Jesus. All the blessings
of God, all the goodness of God the knowledge of God, all the
revelation of God is in Christ. Yesterday Shelby called and talked
to Mabel Dix for a good while. She got off the phone, Mabel,
I guess she must be 90, 91 years old, getting ready to have surgery
and She said to Shelby three or four times. She said, I'm
in Christ and Christ is in me. Everything's all right. Oh, what
a blessing. In Christ, all God's goodness
in Christ and all who are gods are in Christ. Grace be to you. What a wonderful word, grace.
Grace be to you. If you're in Christ, it is and
peace. peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Paul begins to enumerate
these great blessings of grace. But before he does, he speaks
of these blessings, giving us reason to give praise and honor
to God. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. Everything, I repeat, is in Christ. Now let's look at these blessings
with which he has blessed us. First, by the purpose of God
our Father. 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. 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. Our great God, our Heavenly Father,
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one true and
living God is a God of purpose. Absolute purpose. Sure, immutable,
unalterable purpose. In His everlasting, eternal purpose
of grace, God determined to save a people for the glory of His
own great name, and he sovereignly, constantly rules the universe
to accomplish our salvation. Would to God I could half believe
what I declare to you all the time. Our God sovereignly, graciously,
wisely rules the universe all the time in all the details of
the universe for the accomplishment of the salvation of the people
he chose before the world began. In this sovereign purpose of
grace, the Lord God graciously bestowed upon us four distinct
blessings that are described here in these verses by the Apostle
Paul, by the spirit of inspiration. He gave us election and predestination
and adoption and acceptance. These great blessings of grace
are eternal blessings. God the Father chose us in eternal
electing love before the world began. Our Lord Jesus says, ye
have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. Wonder of wonders. God Almighty in everlasting love
chose me. God, let me never get over the
wonder of your grace. He set His heart upon us. He determined to have us, to
make us His own. He chose us before the world
began, chose us in Christ, and chose us for the purpose of making
us holy and without blame before Him. Holy, perfectly holy, without
blame, with no blame from God. Him. He's not talking here about
our coming in time to arrive at a certain measure of holiness
and sanctification. No, no. Before the world was,
the Lord God determined to take men and women fallen in Adam,
depraved by nature, corrupt in all their ways to make us holy
and without blame before him. He commands, be ye holy for I
am holy. And he gives what he commands. He says, walk before me and be
perfect, even as the Lord your God is perfect. And he gives
that which he requires. He did this in love, in love. The sweetest, most loving, and
most gracious revelations of God's love are to be found in
election, predestination, and redemption. Those things that
men, natural men, religious men, unbelieving reprobate men, those
things that they find most obnoxious, and consider hardest are indeed
the sweetest and most blessed revelations of God in Holy Scripture. Election is the revelation of
God's love. Predestination is the revelation
of God's love. Redemption is that by which God
makes known these sweet works of his love in accomplishing
the everlasting redemption of our souls by the sacrifice of
his own darling son revealing his love for us in Christ Jesus
the Lord. God's choice of us was that which
was done in eternity and he made no mistake. He chose us and never
changed His mind in spite of everything in us. And then in
love, God the Father predestinated us. He predestined us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will. When all said and done, The only
thing you and I need to say to anyone with regard to God's predestination,
when men get in a rage, and they do, when men pitch a fit because
of it, and they will, you just simply state, He did this because
that's what He wanted to do. That's all. He's God. Well, how
did God predestinate this? Why did God predestinate that?
Because that's what He wanted to do. He predestined everything
that comes to pass in time because He predestinated us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. Predestinated us to experience
the blessedness of adoption. The adoption took place before
the world was in sovereign election. And we come to receive the nature
of God in the new birth as we experience this adoption and
receive the adoption of sons, recognizing that God is our Father
when we call upon God in heaven and say, Abba, Father. God the Father adopted us. Adopted us. adopted us into his
family, adopted us into union with himself, adopted us as his
sons, and his sons are all adopted as firstborn sons. Isn't that
amazing? The church of God is called the
church of the firstborn. Now that might be understood
firstborn as being the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, who
is the firstborn. Or it might better be read, indeed
would better be read, Church of the Firstborn Ones. You and
I who are gods are firstborn sons. Firstborn? One with Christ the firstborn.
Firstborn? The firstborn son is the one
who is at the Father's right hand. Jesus Christ, we're at
his right hand. The firstborn son is the son
of power and authority, prevailing with God and over all the house
and all the possessions of the house, owning them all. That's
the lot of the firstborn. The Lord God adopted us as his
sons in Christ before the world was and from eternity we're told
that he made us accepted in the beloved. Look at this. praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. These are the
blessings with which God Almighty blessed us from everlasting in
Jesus Christ. As God will give me the grace
to think on my feet a little bit, I've made up my mind from
now on every time I hear someone say to me, I'm blessed. It's a common expression these
days. Or have a blessed day. I'm going to respond to them,
I am blessed too. Blessed from eternity. Blessed
with all things, blessed of God. That ought to raise at least
some questions, if not eyebrows. Yes, indeed, we are blessed of
God if we're in Christ. Blessed of God from eternity. Blessed with blessings which
can never be taken away and can never be changed. And then in
verses seven through 12, the scripture speaks here of the
son's purchase. Here are blessings of grace purchased for us, obtained
for us by our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse seven. In Christ,
he has obtained eternal redemption for us by the purchase of his
blood. In whom we have redemption through
his blood. What is this redemption? It is
the forgiveness of sins. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace. And we talk a good bit about
limited atonement with no apology in this place. I preach it wherever
I go. I preach it all the time. I preach
it especially when I think folks don't like it. Limited atonement,
how come? Because this is the revelation
of the love of God for his people. This is the revelation of the
glory of God in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, by his death at
Calvary, satisfied the justice of God, redeemed his people,
put away our sins, and obtained for us the forgiveness of sins. Wherever there is atonement,
there is forgiveness. Wherever there is a payment made,
there is a ransom obtained. Wherever the blood of Christ
is shed, God Almighty accepts the one for whom the blood of
Christ was shed. Our Savior's work of redemption
reveals and makes known to us the manifest wisdom of God. Look at verse eight, wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. God
from eternity found a way to be a just God and a savior. Redemption by Christ, redemption
by God sacrificing himself is something utterly beyond the
scope of human imagination. Read history if you have any
question concerning that. and read about all the mythological
gods of men. Read about all that men call
gods throughout history and find one example of God sacrificing
himself for the ones he receives. Never. The gods of the world
require men make restitution to him. The gods that men make
require that men make satisfaction. The gods that men make require
that men suffer for sin. The God of glory. reveals his
wisdom and grace in that he found a way to be fully just and yet
justify all for whom he makes the sacrifice, just God and the
Savior. Fully just and justifier of all
who come to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse nine
and 10. By the incarnation, obedience and death of the Lord Jesus,
God has made known to us the whole mystery of His will, having
made known unto us the mystery of His will, the mystery of His
will. Why are we so mystified by the
occurrences of time? Why are we so mystified by things
that we see transpiring in time that cause confusion, and cause
murmuring and complaining because we fail to recognize the mystery
of God's will is good. In all things, He's working good. That is, He's accomplishing the
salvation of His people to the praise of His glory. Look at
verse 9. 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, that is, when the whole
economy of grace is finished, when the whole service of grace
is finished, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, when
God has finished everything he purposed to do, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, which are in heaven,
and which are on earth, even in him." When the Lord God gets
done, God Almighty will make all men see that everything that
has been is for His glory and the saving of His people. Now
God's mystery is hidden to the natural man, but is revealed
to us in the Gospel. The mystery of God's will is
the glory and exaltation of Christ by the salvation of his people.
It is the perfection and unity of God's church in Christ Jesus.
It's the final restitution of all things to the glory of God. When John saw Christ riding forth,
conquering and to conquer on a white horse, he said, on his
head were many crowns. Many crowns. What's he talking
about? Many crowns. Everything crowns
the head of Christ our King. Everything shall redound to his
glory. And then in verses 11 and 12,
in Christ, we have obtained this inheritance in heaven. It was
predestined in eternity, secured at Calvary, purchased by the
blood of Christ, and secured to us by God's providence, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance. We have obtained
an inheritance, not we're going to, it's already ours, awaiting
us in heaven. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. All of this is done for us by
our great triune Jehovah to the praise of the glory of his grace
who first trusted in Christ. Paul is talking here about covenant
blessings. covenant blessings, a covenant
made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit, with the mediator God-man, Christ Jesus, even before our
Lord assumed our nature, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, stepped forth and said, trust your glory to my
hands. Trust your will to my hands. Trust your people to my hands. And the Father trusted the Son. And the Spirit trusted the Son. And the Son trusted the Son,
the God-Man, our Savior, trusted by the triune God as our surety
and mediator. This great blessing of grace,
all this salvation is ours by a divine trust. We obtain it
in time by trusting the Son. but it is ours because God Almighty
gave it to His Son in trust before the world was. Now, look at verses
13 and 14. Here are four blessings of grace
bestowed upon us, bestowed on every chosen, redeemed sinner
by the Spirit's irresistible power and omnipotent mercy and
grace, in whom ye also trust it. That is, the triune God first
trusted Christ, in whom you trusted after that you heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession. Now, people today talk a lot
about the Holy Spirit, and a lot of folks read this 13th, 14th
verses of Ephesians 1, and they talk about a second work of grace,
after being born again, after believing, then you're sealed.
No, no, no, no, no. But having believed, you're sealed. Now, here's what Paul is telling
us. God, the Holy Ghost, graciously calls you to hear the Word of
truth. gospel of your salvation. Oh,
how wondrously God arranges things. How God arranges things to cause
you to hear. Just thinking about Peterson's,
how God arranged things to cause you to hear. My dear friend,
Brother Andre Gele, he said, I can tell you one reason why
we went to war with Iraq. He said, so God calls me to hear
the gospel. God graciously calls his people
at the appointed time of love to hear the word of his grace. And when he causes you to hear,
not just with the natural ear, but with the ear of your heart
and soul, by the hearing of the gospel, he gives you faith in
Christ. Look at this, in whom ye also
trust it. This trust, this confidence in
Christ is not something you can work up or muster, or you can
be talked into by a preacher. This is the gift of God. Yes,
it is my responsibility to believe Him. And it is your responsibility
to believe Him. And the reason men and women
do not believe Him is because they will not trust Him. They
call God a liar, say He's not fit to be believed. And then
God causes you to hear. And He reveals His Son in you.
And when God reveals His Son in you, You just can't help it. You just can't. That which you
could not do before, you cannot help but to do now because God,
by the operation of his grace, works faith in you, giving you
faith, confidence, trust in Christ. And having granted us life and
faith in Christ, God the Holy Ghost has sealed us in Christ. sealed to us all the promises
of God, all the blessings of grace, all His salvation. What if God doesn't love me?
Well, you'll be damned. What if God didn't choose me?
Well, you'll go to hell. What if Christ didn't redeem me? Well,
you will surely perish. How can I know if God loved me,
if God chose me, if Christ redeemed me, if the Spirit's called me?
As soon as you find yourself believing, having this confidence, you call God your Father, lift
your heart to heaven, having sealed to you by the blood of
Jesus Christ, everything God gave you before the world was. That no man can do, no church
can do, religious ritual can do, but God does by His Word. And then God the Holy Ghost dwelling
in us is the pledge of resurrection glory, the redemption of the
purchased possession. Soon this body will be laid in
the grave and my name will be forgotten in the earth and And then Christ will come again
and this body raised like unto his glorious body. raised to
be exactly as he is in his resurrection glory, perfect manhood joined
to God. That's the pledge, the seal of
the Spirit in our hearts. May God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.