The title of my message tonight
is God's Wise Provisions of Grace. Our text will be found in Ephesians
chapter 1. This is the third in a brief
series of messages I'm attempting to bring on the manifold wisdom
of God. You remember that in Ephesians
chapter 3, the Apostle Paul tells us that the intent of God in
saving sinners by the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ
and in the preaching of the gospel is that now unto principalities
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God. And we've seen how that God's
wisdom is revealed in redemption by Christ alone. And that redemption
is the revelation of God's glory showing forth his great wisdom. Tonight I want to show you the
wisdom of our God in his provisions of grace. Ephesians chapter one. Salvation by Christ alone is
salvation that's worthy of the infinitely wise God because the
salvation he bestows in Christ Jesus meets every need of our
souls in this world and in the world to come and does so to
the praise of the glory of his grace. Fallen man is a needy
creature. We're full of needs, but all
the needs of fallen men are met fully in Jesus Christ the Lord. Whatever it is you need, for
your happiness, for your soul's happiness in time and eternity
is in Christ. Every demand of our circumstances,
every craving of our natures, every requirement of our souls
is fully met in and by the Son of God, our Savior, and the grace
of God bestowed on us in him. Let's look at our text, Ephesians
1 verse 3. Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ Praised be God and here's the reason
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ All the blessings of God's grace are heaped upon
us from eternity in Christ our substitute 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, that is in Christ, the
beloved, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins, according to the riches of his grace. Now watch this. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, in the riches of his grace, by
this redemption that we have in Christ, the forgiveness of
sins, God has abounded toward us in all wisdom and skill. With infinite, indescribable
wisdom and infinite, indescribable skill, God abounds toward us
in the riches of His grace. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, having revealed to us the mystery of His will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. In whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. which is the earnest of our inheritance
unto the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. Now let me show you four things
revealed in this book about God's great wisdom in his provisions
of grace. First, understand this. Every
blessing of God, every blessing of God Everything that God will
give to man, everything that God can give to man in all his
holy being is graciously and freely bestowed upon God's elect
without condition or without qualification. Every blessing
of grace has been heaped upon us from eternity. without condition
and without qualification. What I'm saying is this, the
grace of God is not for sale. God doesn't need anything from
man. You and I contribute nothing
to God. God doesn't have anything to
gain from us. Therefore, the thought that somehow
we can, by something we do, or something we experience, or something
we decide, make ourselves worthy of God's blessings, or God's
blessings depend upon something we do, or something we experience,
or something we decide, is to declare that God needs something
from us. Not so. God's blessings come
to us freely, without condition, and without qualification. In
our text, Paul declares that every blessing of God upon his
elect is the result of free grace alone. If you're one of God's
elect, if you trust Christ, you've been blessed of God. Now listen
to what he says concerning these blessings. These blessings we're
talking about are divine, eternal covenant blessings. Blessed be
the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us. These blessings come from God,
their blessings bestowed upon us in eternity, all at one time
in the past, given to us in Christ our mediator, our covenant head,
our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God. These blessings,
all these blessings are infinite, full, unlimited spiritual blessings. They can't be measured by things
of material nature or things of time. They're spiritual blessings. Blessings given to believers
from everlasting spiritual, heavenly blessings. And these blessings
are all mediatorial blessings that come to us in Christ, with
Christ, through Christ, by Christ. They're not ours in ourselves.
They're not ours that we possess just individually, but we possess
them by virtue of our union with Christ from everlasting. The
father accepted the son as our covenant surety before the world
began So he accepted us as the father gave his son all glory
as our surety the lamb slain from the foundation of the world
So he gives all the blessings of grace and glory to his people
from everlasting second look at Ephesians 111 every blessing
of grace for time and eternity is the rightful possession of
the rightful possession of every believer in whom, that is in
Christ, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. You and I who are gods, you and
I who believe Christ, you and I who are redeemed by his precious
blood, chosen by God in eternity, called now in time by the power
and grace of his spirit. We have already obtained, we've
already obtained this inheritance. We were predestinated to everlasting
glory according to the good purpose of our God, and he secures his
purpose by working all things after the counsel of his own
will. That is to say, every believer has a rightful, lawful, indisputable,
undeniable claim to everything that heaven and eternal glory
have to offer. Because everything regarding
the inheritance of God's saints is a matter of grace. It is our
rightful possession because God has made it so. Just look at
the blessings named in our text. Election, predestination, adoption,
acceptance, redemption, forgiveness, faith, sealing, and resurrection
glory. Now notice the language Paul
uses. In Christ, we have obtained this inheritance. We haven't
yet entered into our heavenly inheritance, but we've already
obtained it. by God's decree, by the purchase
of Christ's blood, representatively as Christ, our forerunner, has
taken possession of it in our name. He obtained eternal redemption
for us, not for himself, but in our name as our representative.
And we have already taken possession of this inheritance by faith
in Christ. Our mystical, representative,
spiritual union with Christ, gives us a rightful claim to
all that he possesses as our mediator. Therefore, the apostle
tells us we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Our Savior said, Father, the
glory thou hast given me, I have given them. So that whatever
the glory is that the Son of God sitting yonder in glory now
possesses, as the result of his mediatorial obedience to God
as the God-man, as our representative, all that the Father gave the
Son, He has given us. These are blessings of grace
given to us in Christ Jesus. If ever a person comes to understand
the substitutionary work of Christ, If ever a sinner comes to understand
the union of God's elect with Christ, if ever we understand
that the whole of our acceptance with God is Jesus Christ the
Lord, the whole of our merit with God is Christ the Lord,
the whole of our worthiness before God is Christ the Lord, then
the notion of degrees of reward and glory vanishes. It just vanishes. The reason many women still entertain
the silly idea that somehow by things we do we earn for ourselves
a greater degree of heavenly glory is because they don't understand
what's stated in this book concerning the believers' union with Christ
and acceptance in the beloved. This notion that somehow some
folks are in heaven going to have so many crowns they can't
hold their head up and other folks just live on the back settlements
of the New Jerusalem and just barely get in by the skin of
their teeth is nothing on this earth but papacy dressed up in
different language. It's nothing but purgatory dressed
up in different language. Our acceptance with God, our
inheritance in heaven is all together because of and in union
with Christ. When he can lose his reward,
then Bobby Estes can lose his. You understand that? When Christ
can diminish in glory, then you can diminish in your acceptance
with God and not until then. Third, look at verse 14. Every
blessing of God's grace, which we enjoy on earth and shall enjoy
in heaven. was earned and purchased for
us by our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. In verse 14, Paul
is talking about the consummation of our salvation in resurrection
glory. And this is how he does it. He
speaks of it as the redemption of the purchased possession.
The redemption of the purchased possession. All the fullness
of salvation. Resurrection and glorification
was purchased for us by our Lord Jesus. He purchased these things
for every sinner for whom he died, for all God's elect. And the bestowment of this fullness
shall be to the praise of his glory. If any part of it, if
the slightest particle is somehow dependent upon you, dependent
upon something you do, then God does not get the praise. God cannot rightfully take the
praise or the glory or the honor for it. Not if it depends on
you or depends on me. But God has arranged things as
they are, so that all the benefit of salvation, all the blessing
of his grace is in Christ, that no flesh should glory in his
presence. But for of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made into us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth Let him glory in the Lord. Now, in the fourth
place, and we'll camp here for just a little while, I'll wrap
this up. Let me show you something of God's great wisdom revealed
in these provisions he has made for us in Christ. A wise father
makes provisions for his household, both immediate and future provisions. The wiser the father and the
greater his abilities, the more certain and secure those provisions
are. A man gets married and he finds
that he and his wife are going to have their first child. And
he immediately begins to make plans. And to his ability, if
he's a good and wise father, he makes provision for the child's
future, for the future of every child in his household. The greater
his ability and the greater his wisdom, the more secure those
provisions are. Our heavenly father with infinite
wisdom has devised and with infinite ability secures the provisions
of his household, all his household for time and eternity. Being centered by nature, we
stand in need of atonement. We stand in need of atonement.
Our consciences tell us that. The Word of God tells us that.
We stand in need of atonement. Somehow, we must have atonement
for our sins. We must be able to satisfy justice
for our sins. We must be able to meet the demands
of God's law in the punishment of sin. And our Heavenly Father,
in infinite mercy, wisdom, and grace, Provided atonement we
needed in Jesus Christ his son By his obedience unto death.
He satisfied every demand of God's law for us Christ repaired
the law we broke he paid the debt we owed as our substitute
turned to Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 And I believe I've
got something here that will help you Romans chapter 8 will
begin reading at verse 1. I There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Now, as you read the word flesh
here, he's not talking about your physical flesh. He's not
even talking about your sinful Adamic nature. That just won't
fit the context. He's not talking about folks
imagining they have no condemnation because they walk not after the
flesh in lust and fulfilling their lust and adultery and fornication
and drunkenness and lewdness. Not at all. The word flesh in
this passage is talking about carnal ordinances of law. In
this passage talking about law, he's just declared that we are
dead to the law by the body of Christ in Romans chapter 7. We're
not under the law, Romans chapter 6. Here he says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk
not after the flesh, who do not seek righteousness by what they
do. As long as you seek righteousness
by something you do, walking after the flesh, you can never
be free from condemnation. But after the Spirit, walk by
faith in Christ. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in
the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Now,
Paul is not telling us here that we now, living by faith in Christ,
by our obedience to the law, fulfill the righteousness of
the law. You know that's not so. I know that's not so. Any honest man knows that's not
so. People talk about living by the law and fulfilling righteousness
of the law by their works. They know that's not so. He's
talking about we fulfill the righteousness of the law when
we're given the life of Christ by His Spirit in the new birth. Now, this is the end for which
the law was given, the fulfillment of righteousness, us trusting
the Lord Jesus. Verse 5. For they that are after
the flesh, they that are after the law, the carnal ordinances
of the law, the carnal law given to flesh, do mind the things
of flesh, of law. But they that are after the spirit,
the things of the spirit. For to be carnally minded, legally
minded, is death. To be legally minded to attempt
righteousness by your works is death. But to be spiritually
minded, that's life and peace. To live by faith, this is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind, the
legal mind, is enmity against God. All who seek righteousness
by their works live in enmity against God. For it is not subject
to the law of God. That's the pretense, but that's
not reality. It is not subject to the law
of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh, they who live under law, cannot please God. But you're not in the flesh.
Bless God, we're not under the law, but in the Spirit. If so,
be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have
not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ
be in you, the body, the body of Moses, the law is dead because
of sin. But the spirit is life because
of righteousness. Where righteousness is, there's
life. Where sin is, there's death.
Christ, our righteousness, is Christ our life. Verse 11. But
if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell
in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore,
brethren, we're debtors not to the flesh, not to the law, but
to the spirit. We're debtors not to the flesh,
to live after the flesh, to live after the law, For if you live
after the flesh, if you live by law, you shall die. But if
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live. If by the Spirit of God you deny
all personal merit, all personal goodness, all personal holiness,
all personal righteousness, you shall live. For as many as are
led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have
not received again the spirit of bondage, the spirit of legality
again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption, whereby
we cry, Abba, Father. Shelby and I driving down the
road the other night to North Carolina, listening to one of
Brother Carol Poole's messages on We Know. And he made a statement,
I thought I was going to have to pull off the side of the road
laughing with amusement. He said, you need to quit chasing
boogers in the dark. People forever beat themselves
up. looking for goodness in themselves,
fearing that somehow I'm not good enough, I'm not worthy enough,
I'm not holy enough, I'm not righteous enough, I haven't repented
enough, I don't feel enough closeness to the Lord and thereby I cannot
have assurance. You're just chasing fear in the
dark. The light is we're not in the
flesh, no longer under law, but in the spirit. Our acceptance
with God is not based on what we do. Our acceptance with God
is in Christ and in Christ alone. So lifting our hearts to God
in faith in Jesus Christ the Lord, we look up to heaven and
call God our Father with ease of mind and peace of heart. When
a sinner trusts the Lord Jesus, He receives atonement from sin
by faith in Jesus Christ. Our faith doesn't make atonement.
Our faith doesn't make atonement effectual. Atonement was made
by Christ Jesus the Lord, but we have now received the atonement
by faith in Christ Jesus. Believing Him, We receive that
reconciliation God made in him for our souls, recognizing that
our whole acceptance with God is Jesus Christ the Lord. We
all, by nature, also stand in need of peace and reconciliation
to God. By nature, we're enemies to God.
Our enmity toward God is altogether one-sided and unwarranted, and
our consciences crave peace and reconciliation. Every man does
and every man does something by which he hopes to have peace
with God. Every man has does something
by which he hopes to have peace with God, except that person
who does nothing, who just trust the son of God. The believers
peace is found in reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus
Christ, the Lord. Religion won't give you peace. The peace that you have by walking
a church aisle and making a decision, getting baptized, and changing
your way of life for a little while doesn't last long. Doesn't
last long. I remember years ago, Mary Bell
said something to me. She and Donnie used to have a
large collection of records, all kinds of records. And she
said, before God saved her, said, in one of our spasms of religion,
we've broke them all. That's what most folks get from
religion, just spasms. So that you get a little relief,
and then you start having some problems again. You want to rededicate
up, and you have another spasm of religion, another fit of religion.
And that's all it is. No peace comes. No peace comes. The peace of religion without
Christ is neverlasting peace. But God has graciously provided
peace for us in his son. He was in Christ, reconciling
the world of his elect to himself by the obedience and death of
his son, not imputing our trespasses unto us, but rather charging
them to him who was made sin for us at Calvary Street. But
still, while we lived in this world in enmity against God,
seeking acceptance with God by what we do, there was no reconciliation. We were still continually in
our enmity, fighting against God, particularly fighting against
the revelation of God's grace in Christ Jesus, the Lord, until
God came by his spirit and conquered our hearts, reconciling us to
himself. Many of you will remember Brother
Bob Lips. His family used to raise these thoroughbred show
horses. And I was given a lesson by Brother
Lips when I first came here. And they were taming some horses. And he said, what we do is gentledom. You know, I'd always watched
the old westerns, and when I was a boy, to go up the mountains
in North Carolina, my cousins were all smaller than me as most
everybody else was, and they'd get these Shetland ponies. And
they couldn't ride them. They'd be mean and wild. And
they'd manage to hold the pony down long enough to get a saddle
on it when I'd show up. Because I was so big, the pony couldn't
buck me off. And I'd just ride it until, then they could ride
him. They could ride him. He just, they couldn't buck me
off. And the way they used to do it in the Western shows, I'd
say, you'd throw a saddle on that fella and you'd ride him
and ride him and ride him until you'd break him, just break him. And
Bob said, we don't do that. We don't do that. Don't want
to break your spirit. You want to gentle him. Just
want to gentle him. When God throws the saddle of
his grace on you, he doesn't gentle you. He rides you into
the ground until you cease your warfare against God. And now
you throw up the white flag of surrender and find peace being
reconciled to God through faith in his darling son. This is peace
that God gives. Fallen man craves happiness too. Man has a thirst, a craving for
happiness, real satisfying joy and happiness. Therefore, he
vents his lust in every direction and seeks happiness in every
imaginable direction. He seeks happiness in material
prosperity or he seeks happiness in the bottle. He seeks happiness
in open profligacy or he seeks happiness in religious austerity. He seeks after happiness and
finds none. For there is no real satisfying
joy and happiness in anything the world gives. It's just not
there. Some of you folks buy a new car.
I've always had used cars and that's no complaint. I'd have
one if I had the choice. But you get that new car, to
me it's new, and man alive, that's so nice. That smells so good,
runs so good, clean. And you drive down the road and,
man, his car looks so much better than mine. Man, that's prettier than my
car. And suddenly you're dissatisfied, dissatisfied with that thing
which gave you so much joy, so much joy. I remember years ago,
a friend of mine told me that two of the happiest days in my
life was day I got a boat and day I got rid of it. Men are
easily swayed by foolish things of non-insignificance. The fact
is nothing in this world will make you happy. Nothing in this
world will satisfy you. Christ will. Christ will. Christ is enough. He's enough. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
provision of God for the happiness of his children. You see, the
soul of man is spiritual and must find happiness and enjoyment
in spiritual life. Christ purchased that for us,
and he sends his spirit to give it to us. And the soul is happy
who can say, the Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Man's a rational
creature. We need to learn. and know and
expand our minds to be happy. Every man needs that. God's met
that need too. He's given us Christ. the ever-expanding
subject of meditation and thought. So the more you know him, the
more you desire to know, and the wider your expansion of knowledge
is concerning him, the more narrow you feel it to be, and the more
you want to know, so that the study of Christ is that which
satisfies the man's need, and that with which he would expand
his mind. is also an affectionate creature.
We can't be happy without loving and being loved. You can't be happy without loving
and being loved. I know that these days folks
choose to have dogs and cats and snakes rather than having
children, and some folks have those because they can't have
children. And you love your pets. And your pets may be loyal to
you, but they can't reciprocate love. Can't do it. No cat, no dog, no animal of
any kind. They just are loyal. They're
just loyal. And the fact is there's nothing
and no one in this world in whom our love can find satisfaction
or whose love can give satisfaction. Now let me show you what I'm
talking about. You'll understand immediately. I am convinced there's never
been a man so loved as I am by that lady. Well, I can't talk
about it. Can't talk about it. But the
fact is the one loved and the one loving is a sinner. And soon That love will create great pain
for one of us, maybe both, because the Lord will take us from one
another here so that there's no real satisfaction, not so
with Christ. Here is a lover of my soul whose
love gives rest now and forever. Oh, how sweet to declare my beloved
is mine. and I am his. His desire is toward
me. Christ is the object of our love
that's an everlasting lover for our souls. Listen to the scriptures. Song of Solomon chapter one.
Just listen. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. For thy love is better than wine. Because the savor of thy good
ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore, do the
virgins love thee. Draw me and we will run after
thee. The king has brought me into
his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in
thee. We will remember thy love more
than wine. The upright love thee. Perfect love casteth out all
Fear. Perfect love. The perfection
of God's love in me. God's love being perfected in
me. Cast out all fear from me. Where there is no perfect love,
there's torment and fear. But the love of God revealed
in our hearts, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
given to us, cast out fear. This is love craved by the soul
of man. And let me tell you a little
something about love. When you love someone, you desire
to see the one you love. And God's revealed his son in
our hearts. reveals his son and his word.
And now we see through a glass darkly and we see him. Oh, how sweet to see him. Soon
we shall see him perfectly. We shall see him as he is. If
you love someone, you like to talk with them. Shelby and I were separated for
a year when I was, the year we were engaged. I was at school
in Springfield, Missouri, a thousand miles away from her. And back
in those days, 75 cents, you could talk for three minutes.
And then the operator would come on and say deposit another 75
cents. And every night, she'd call me
or I'd call her, 75 cents a night. Did it every single night if
we had to do without lunch or supper. Call to talk. God Almighty
has fixed it. so we can speak to God in sweet
communion through his son, the Lord Jesus. You love someone,
you want to live with them. You want to live with them. God
met that need too. We dwell in Christ. Christ dwells
in us and we shall be with him forever. Love wants to share
things. Love wants to share things. You
get something good, you just want to share it. You've learned
something good, you want to share it. You find something you think
somebody else like, you want to share it with them. I recall
the first time Shelby and I went down to Shaker Town. You folks
sent us down there right after we moved here. And we spent our
anniversary down there. It had a meal down there. And
I said to Shelby, I said, Brother Mahan loved this place. Got to
take him down here. Just the first thought I had. And we did.
And he liked it. Liked it wonderfully. You love
somebody, you want to share things with them. Christ has given me. all he is. He's given me all he is. And I'm trying to give him all
that I am. Aren't you? And soon we shall. Love desires the nearest possible
relationship with his object. God met that need too. We are
one body with Christ. and one spirit with Christ. For
this call shall a man leave his father and his mother, and they
too shall be one flesh. Paul said, but I'm not talking
about a husband and wife. I'm talking about Christ and
his church. One flesh, one spirit. Love inclines to conformity. If a woman loves a man, I know
this is not politically correct, but I do my dead level best never
to be. If a woman loves a man, she seeks
to conform to his personality, his taste, his ways, and his
desires. If a man seeks to conform to
a woman's personality, her taste, her ways and her desires as this
insane world would have us to believe it ought to be done.
You're going to live in misery all your life, both the man and
the woman. But if a woman loves a man, she
seeks to conform to her husband. And to love Christ is to seek
conformity to him, to his will, to his character. and we shall
have our desire being conformed to the image of God's dear son.
And seventh, it's the natural desire of love to do something
for the one beloved, purely for the pleasure and honor of the
one we love. God's provided this too. You
remember that woman in Mark chapter 14, She came and anointed the
Lord for his burial. And the disciples following Judas's
lead said, what a terrible waste. And the Lord Jesus stepped into
her defense and said, leave her alone. She hath done what she
could. She came to anoint me. She had
done what she could just because she loved much, because she was
forgiven much. She's done what she could. just
for me. And God Almighty has arranged
it. This is one of the most amazing
aspects of His grace. That you and I who are His are
instruments by which God is glorified. That's just almost more than
I can imagine. Glorified in the saving of our
souls, yes. Glorified by our faith in Him,
yes. Glorified by our worshiping Him,
serving Him, and serving His people. And we shall glorify
our God forever before wandering worlds to the praise of the glory
of his grace, we will forever stand forth as shining lights
of God's wisdom and grace in eternity. Every good thing men
naturally crave is provided for sinners in Christ. Men won't
honor. Christ has made us kings and
priests. Men want riches. In Christ we have the riches
of God's grace. Men want pleasure. At his right
hand are pleasures forevermore. Men want health and long life.
Christ is our life. God's provided us with all needed
good both for our bodies and for our souls for time and for
eternity our Lord in his sermon on the mountain Matthew 6 speaks
of Food and drink and raiment and where you live all those
things. He said he said don't you know? Your father knows you
have needed these things You don't have to worry about those
things. Those are the things the Gentiles seek. That's all
they know. That's all they heard. Your father
takes care of you. He takes care of the sparrows.
He'll take care of you. He takes care of the litters
in the field. He'll take care of you. Cast all your care on
him for he careth for you. And our father has secured good
for his children in every condition of life. just good, nothing but good in
every circumstance and condition of life. I ask you, children
of God, which of your most painful experiences has not proved good
for you? Which of your most difficult
times has not proved good for you? Our Lord Jesus asked his
disciples, lacked ye anything? And the answer is nothing, Lord.
The household of faith lacks nothing good in any circumstance. In affliction, Christ is our
support. In poverty, he's our provision. In sorrow, he's our comfort.
In temptation, Christ is our preserver. In darkness, he's
our light. In bereavement, he's our friend.
In death, Christ is our life. And in Christ, God has provided
provision for our bodies as well as our souls. I got this from
Jonathan Edwards years ago, just a very brief quote, listen carefully.
The bodies of the saints shall be raised to life. Now this is
what that means. Your body shall be raised a spiritual
body in incorruption and glory and made like unto Christ glorious
body. to shine as the sun in the kingdom
of his father and to exist in a glorified state in union with
your soul to all eternity to the praise of his glory. Yet we have another need. Man
needs to be qualified. Qualified for and worthy of all
these provisions and the enjoyment of them. You can't really enjoy
anything fully if you know you don't have a right to it. You
can't really fully enjoy anything if you know you really aren't
worthy of it. No one has a right to the blessings
of grace and glory. No one is qualified to receive
them by nature. But our Heavenly Father has taken
care of that too. Our worthiness, we're about to
receive the Lord's table. Paul said, if you eat and drink
unworthily, you eat or drink without faith in Christ, you
eat and drink damnation to yourself. But we come to the table. You
who are, who are believers, you who trust, if you're not a believer,
don't take the bread and wine. It's not for you. If you're a
believer. Your worthiness to receive the
Lord's table is your worthiness to call God your father. It is
Christ Jesus, the Lord. He's our worthiness. Our claim
to these provisions of grace and of glory in the Father's
house is faith in Christ. And even the faith by which we
claim them is his gift. And then soon, very soon, God
will make us perfectly worthy in our own persons. when our
Savior presents us faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. Oh, how great our God is, how
wise. By his infinite wisdom and grace,
he's given us infinitely great riches of grace in Christ Jesus. Great redemption, redemption
by His blood. Great salvation, salvation by
His amazing grace. Great provision, all I need. Great hope, for we shall be like
Him. And this He gives for great sinners. For great sinners. For sinners
who need everything from Him, He gives everything to them. Oh, may God be pleased to give
you faith in his son and with him give you freely all things
forever. Amen.