There is no passage in all the
Bible that can be any more encouraging to God's people than this passage. There is no passage that should
humble us more. There is no passage that should
move us to be grateful any more than this and the things that
we've read in these verses. Our subject this morning would
be the saving work of the Triune God. The saving work of the Triune
God. So much emphasis will be placed
this day and every Lord's Day around our country about what
the Lord needs and what the Lord wants. About what He needs you
to do and what He wants you to do and all this kind of stuff.
All that has its place. But the emphasis here is on what
He has done. What He has done. And contrary to modern opinion,
salvation involves something more than fallen creatures persuading
other fallen creatures to accept Jesus. It's a lot bigger than
that. This passage tells us how the
triune God, we do believe that God is a trinity. Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost. Not three gods, but one God that
manifests in three persons. The trinity. And this tells us
what he has done to redeem and to save sinners for his glory,
to be his children, his people for eternity. And this passage,
this work of the triumph of God, it spans from eternity to eternity. It is pitiful in our day and
hour that minds are not exercised enough to think beyond the visible. I can see as far back there as
that door, those doors, and that's about as far as we think about. This generation, we've been programmed
not to think. That's what television's about.
That's what the news media's about, is not to think for yourself. Listen to what this or that has
said, something you may have heard a few times, and think,
well, I guess that's how it is. That's not how it is. Or but
as the children of God, to have our minds exercised in these
things. And to see the vastness of it,
that the work of God spans from eternity past to eternity future. Our former pastor used to say,
only that which had its origin in eternity can survive in eternity. In other words, only that which
originated in eternity past in the mind and purpose of God will
ever survive to eternity future. The salvation described in these
verses gives all the glory to the triune God. I trust that
you've experienced these things and understand these things and
embraced these things in your heart this morning. So verses
3 through 6 tell us what God the Father has done. And in verse
6, we read that He's done it to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Verses 7 through 12 tell us what
God the Son has done, the Lord Jesus. and concludes in verse
12 with these words, to the praise of His glory. And then verses
13 and 14 tell us about the work of God the Spirit, what He has
done in His doing. Verse 14 concludes with unto
the praise of His glory. So we could rightfully title
this passage of Scripture, this message, to the praise of His
glory. That's what it says. Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're talking about the content
of it as the saving work of the Triune God. Now let's look at
what the Father has done, verses 3 through 6. Starting with verse
3, Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Now, you can turn on the TV,
and those fellows will tell you about some blessings that God
has missed. And they can tell you how to get it over with. No, Paul said, before any of
this bunch got here, that he had blessed us, that's what I
said, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, the world around us is not
interested in spiritual blessings. Material blessings, yes. Physical
blessings, yes. But spiritual blessings, no.
When we look at this, it is so wonderful to you and I as God's
children. We don't have to hang our head.
We don't have to be ashamed of the Lord. And though the world
looks at us this morning as though we're plagued We are not plagued,
we are blessed. Blessed, blessed. This blessing
began in eternity past with a choice. Not our choice, because we wasn't
there to choose. Not the devil's choice, because
he'd have never chosen what God did. But God's choice. That's where it begins. Look
at verse 4. He hath blessed us how? According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world. Now let me clarify
the characters in that statement. According as he, God the Father,
hath chosen us, those whom he has regenerated and made his
people. in Him, that is, in Christ, before
the foundation of the world. Well, that's the first blessing
chosen. God laid plain on us as His own
before He made the world. Now that eliminates this little
sissy-fied stuff, but you might have done something nice enough
to get God's attention and cause Him to smile on you. No, you
hadn't done nothing near that field. But this began before He hung
the stars, before He created the earth. He chose His people
in Christ. Chosen. He laid claim on us. You say, well, don't we choose
him? Yes. Our choosing him is the result of his having chosen
us. A lot of well-meaning folk never
see that. A lot of good religious folk
get the cart before the horse. They say that God becomes interested in us,
and we become interested in Him. Well, if He wasn't interested
in you first, you'd never be interested in Him. See, that's
the order. Don't get the cart before the
horse. And what that little saying means is that there's no life
in the cart to push the horse. The life is in the horse to pull
the cart. That's just what that would be.
So God chose us before we chose Him. Now the next blessing in
this same verse would be the approval of God. That God approves us as His children
in Christ. The rest of the verse says, no,
that He had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the
world, but He chose us that we should be holy and without blame
before Him in love. Now, while it is true that God's
children should desire and strive to live holy, and God's children
do, that is not what's being said here. He says we're chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world in order that in
Him we should be counted holy in Christ. and without blame
before God our Father. Now we have this command other
places, this instruction other places to live holy, be holy
as I am holy. But here it is a declaration
that God has secured for us in Christ that standard which He
requires of us. A standard of perfect holiness
and blamelessness before Him. Now, we can just believe this. That's what Paul meant when he
said, Whoa, there is therefore now no condemnation. Not one little bit of cognition
to them that are in Christ Jesus. To them who have been regenerated
and who walk and who strive and who yearn after the Spirit and
not after the flesh. Get that for us. For us to believe
this. would bring us to rest in Christ.
But no, we've listened to so many false prophets so long,
telling us what else we need to do and be for God to be happy
with us. Otherwise, He's a little put
out with us. Well, that's not what this book
teaches. If God is happy with His Son, then He's happy with
all who are in His Son. and he said, this is my beloved
son, into whom I am well pleased. I'm just absolutely thrilled
with him. And you're in him. Now verse five, he talks about
something else. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. I thought about this, you could
go to any orphanage, any children's home in this country, and somebody might tell you,
we really don't know where all these children are going to wind
up, what will happen to them, what their lives will be. We
just don't know. But the Lord says, concerning
those he has chosen in eternity, they're headed. They're predestinated. That is, their destination is
predetermined. I'll tell you where they're going
to land up. Pre is before him. Predetermined. Though he chose in Christ from
eternity, he's predestinated. us. We determined us unto the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ through his hand. God determined in eternity past
to have him a family and he chose from among Adam's fallen races
who they'd be. Now I'm telling you, men have
to twist God's Word to read this any other way. They want to say
that God hadn't really determined anything. And He's at our mercy to decide
on Him. But that's not how it is. That's
not how it is. Hold on. I've actually had men
tell me, yeah, it says that, but it means this. Say what? Well, I believe it means just
what it says. I think the Lord said what he
meant. He's chosen us, predestinated us, to be his children for one
reason only. Nothing in you, nothing about
you, but here's the reason. according to the good pleasure
of his own will. Just because he wanted to. We're chosen, approved, we're
destinated to the adoption of children, and verse 6, we're
accepted. We're in, that is, in Christ, wherein He, God the Father, hath
made us, His chosen, approved, adopted ones, accepted in the
Beloved, meaning the Beloved Son. Of course, that word accepted
is past tense. We point that out often. He hath
made us acceptable. In other words, You give you
a chance, so let us accept it. Accept it. Accept it. Did you know there's
nothing in the New Testament about you accepting the Lord? John 1.12, as many as received
him. There's a big difference in accepting
and receiving. Accepting puts the ball in your
court, and it never has been. Receiving means you're the recipient
of the action of another. There is a whole heap about Him
accepting you. That's what this verse says.
He's made us acceptable. He don't need our acceptance. He's God with or without your
approval. But we sure need His. He's made us accepted in the
blood. The Father has done all this,
chosen, approved, adopted, made us accepted. He's done all this
to the praise of the glory of His grace. Preachers say, oh, good old God,
He did all this just so you wouldn't have to go to hell. No, you ought
to go to hell. The likes of you and the likes
of me. This book says that he did all
this to the praise of the glory of his grace. This outfit, it
thinks they're going to get to heaven, but who knew about how
they got there, and they're in for a big surprise, a brief battle. It's all about the crown, and
the awards, and the Olympic trophies, and the gold medals, and the
silver, and the bronze, and all this stuff. I believe it says
it's all will be right uh... it's cool uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... Well, we certainly couldn't exhaust
these verses, and I'm not planning to, but I want to mention five
things contained in these verses. First, redemption, verse 7. In
whom? Of course, the whom is Christ.
In Christ, we have redemption through His blood. We just sang that song. Nothing
but the blood. We have redemption through His
blood. We were sold into slavery, sold
into sin by Adam's sin. And having His nature, we were
born in sin, and in slavery to sin. And apart from Christ's
redemption, we'd all live in the bondage of sin, and we'd
all die in the bondage of sin, and we'll all be alienated from
God forever because of that. But in Christ, we have redemption
through His blood. Now, redemption or to redeem,
you know, means to buy back, to pay the price, to take out
a bondage. Whatever the price be, The price required by the Father
was the blood of one as pure and holy as himself. And of course that can be none
but himself because there was none other. So the scripture
teaches us that he was made flesh. God came down in the body of
flesh. If we go back to Egypt, we call
it Emmanuel. That word means God with us. And so the man Christ Jesus,
who walked the shores of Galilee, the streets of Jerusalem, was
God in all its purity and holiness. And he went to the cross and
shed his blood, and the price was paid. Tell you this morning,
you can forget about trying to pay for your sins in order to
find peace with God. Oh no, you can't do it. The debt
is already paid. Christ did it on the cross. We
have redemption through his blood. His message to us here is not
do, do, do, but it's done, done, done. Believe it. Rejoice in it. Love Him for it. He did it on the cross. Then,
not on the redemption, but secondly, same verse here, verse 7, the
forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. It is so
wonderful. And this is what gives us the
peace of God. The redemption by His blood gave
us peace with God. Oh, but what about me personally?
This forgiveness of sins gives me a peace of God. To know that God is not mad.
To know that God understands my feebleness and my failures
and my foolishness as I constantly ask Him to help me win. But He's not harboring any bitterness. He's not planning somewhere down
the road to really let us act. No, He's already let us have
it when He put His Son on the cross. See, Christ had no sin
to die for. And but for our sin, He wouldn't
have went to the cross and couldn't have died. But He did. Death is the wages of sin. Anybody that stops sinning can't
die. But you have not seen anybody
like that in this world. And Christ was not a sinner,
but he was made sin for us, made to be sin for us. 2 Corinthians
5, verse 21. Our sin that he went to the cross
for. He did it for us. And so we have forgiveness not according to anything we've
done. We'll never do well enough in
this flesh to earn one speck of forgiveness for anything. Paul says here, we have this
forgiveness of sin now, according to the riches of His grace. Just because God can afford to
do it, and has sent his son to do it, we have forgiveness of
sins. Third thing, verses eight and
nine, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. God has acted, he has abounded
toward us, in our behalf, for our benefit, in all wisdom and
prudence. And He's made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself. The mystery of His will. Having
made known unto us of the sinful, fallen, and unworthy creatures
as we are, He's made known unto us the mystery of his will and it's
with all wisdom and prudence that he's done it. What has he
done in his wisdom and prudence and made known unto us? He has
appointed one mediator. One who is both God and man in order to reconcile us. We could never cross that gulf
and stand in the presence of God. Oh no, never. We could never
do what Christ did for us. God could never settle for less
than what Christ did for us. It's a great mystery that he's
made known to us that we're represented in another, that Christ is our
Redeemer. our righteousness. Fourth, he talks about a great
gathering here, verse 14, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, in other words, when it's all done, he might gather
together in one All things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. The all things in heaven,
all the holy angels that praise God day and night. The all things on earth are God's
elect, that's all he's interested in on earth. The rest is history. The rest
is doomed, the rest is damned. God's interest in this world,
this moment, is his people. And in Christ, men and angels
are gathered together in one. One company to praise our God
forever. And then a fifth thing in verse
11, in Christ, He says here in verse 11, in
whom also we have obtained an inheritance. Not from whom, but
in whom. There is no greater inheritance
than Christ himself, to be in him. So it's in whom, it's not
from whom, but it's in whom. Those folks are interested in
what the Lord's going to give us. He's given us exactly. Our
inheritance is in Him. He is our inheritance. Peter
said, that is incorruptible and undefiled and that faded not
away. He's not talking about a maintenance-free
mansion that's going to stand forever and never need any painting
or a board replaced or anything. He's not talking about that. In whom? In Christ. He's the incorruptible one. He's
the undefiled one. They did it the other way. They
used to say an old song years ago. when I inherit my mansion. Well, only the mansion won't
make it, Kevin. People blow their brains out
in mansions. People overdose in mansions. Look at Hollywood. But our inheritance, eternal
inheritance, never to be lost, never be taken from us is in
Christ our Lord, who's already conquered death and hell. No more enemies for Him to deal
with. Safe in Him forever. Verse 11 continues, that it's
all according to the purpose of Him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. I guess a lot of people don't
like this passage because it talks so much about God just
doing what he wants to do instead of what they want him to do.
It's pretty plain. And then this section concludes
about what God the Son, what Christ has done for us. It concludes
like the first part did, that we should be the praise of His
glory. It's for His glory, see? Whole
business. People say, oh, I'm so glad I
accepted the Lord, putting the wisdom in themselves. Oh, I'm
glad I made that decision when I did. I'm so much smarter than
other folks. I decided to get saved when I
did. Yeah, I'm sure you did. And the glory of it, they put
to themselves. I did this. Well, that's not
the order. We love him because he first
loved us. If he didn't love you, you couldn't
love him. If he didn't cause you to, you
wouldn't love him. He chose him because he first chose us. Chosen,
approved, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, gathered
together in one, having inheritance. Now thirdly, the work of the
Spirit. God, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit.
Verse 13, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation, whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now the English reading here
is misleading. This is not saying that the Spirit's
sealing is not until after we believe. In other words, the Spirit sealed
us after he saw what we were going to do. That's what people
explain that to me. But no, take it real slow. In
whom ye also trust him, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation in whom also after that, that
is, after that you heard it, you believed it. Why did you
believe it? Because you were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of Prophets. You were called to believe it. Don't read the Holy Spirit in
the picture after you bleed. Oh no. He's the cause of your
bleeding. He is who quickened us who were
dead in trespasses and sins. You have to be alive to believe.
You don't believe to get alive, you're alive to believe. And
He quickens when you're dead and trespasses in sin. So the
Father reserved us for Himself from eternity. The Son redeemed
us for Himself by His blood. And the Holy Spirit regenerates
us with Himself by His power to believe. Now, we often hear
this misquoted. Notice it's not, you were sealed
by the Holy Spirit of promise. Oh, no. But you were sealed with
the Holy Spirit of promise. The Holy Spirit Himself is the
seal. He is the seal dwelling in us. Jesus said in John 14, He'll
dwell, He'll abide with you forever. He dwelleth in you and with you
and shall be in you. So the Holy Spirit, here it says,
is the earnest of our inheritance. And that word earnest, it's a
financial term, and it's literally a security deposit. It's a guarantee. The assurance
that we are in Christ, our inheritance forever, And that Christ is in
us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. You say, well, how do
I know he lives in me? Well, Paul said in Romans 5 that
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
which is given unto us. Now let me ask you a question.
If you can testify, I don't love God, I don't want to love God,
I don't intend to love God, then you can just get on about this
and go your own way. Oh, how blessed it is to have
this pool of the Holy Spirit in your heart. To want to love God the way we
know we should love Him. To want to live for Him the way
we know we should live for Him. To want to honor Him the way
we know we should honor Him. Live for His glory. This work of the Holy
Spirit is such a blessing. I thought about, you know a hungry
baby is not happy. And they'll let you know it,
won't they? But a happy heart is a hungry
heart. Hungry for more of God. If we had this or if we did that
or the other, I think I'd be happy. No, the real happiness
of saints is in hunger for God. Only the Holy Spirit gives that
hunger. Satisfies it and gives it. Satisfies
it and gives it. He sustains that throughout our
lives. Giving hunger and feed us. Giving hunger and feed us. He's the sustainer. And so, how
foolish we are to pray, Lord, give me this, give me that. Lord,
make us bigger. Lord, make us better. Lord, make
us different. Just for the sake of being different.
No. We ought to pray, Lord, Hungry to know you, hungry to
experience you. All that the Holy Spirit would
do that for us. Left to ourselves when we left
the earth was buried in the great deep. Genesis 1. All that the Spirit of God would
be pleased to move and brood and stir on the red deep of my
heart and say, let there be light. That's what I need. That's what
you need. This is the work of the Spirit. And His work, too,
like the Father and the Son, is to the praise of His glory. Holy, holy, holy. God in three persons, blessing,
trinity, salvation is our Lord. Amen. Let's stand.