Alright, if you'll take your
Bibles now and turn to the book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1. We'll try
to look at a few things here in verses 2 and 3. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, I told you when I gave you
the overview of this book, and especially of this first chapter,
that the theme is what believers are in Christ. Now, you're going to read, and
I'll be referring to the book of Colossians off and on. The
theme of Colossians is what Christ is in you. But here, he's talking
about what you are in Christ. Now, understand this, and this
is what this book teaches, that everything outside of Christ
is accursed of God. Everything outside of Christ
is cursed of God. Everything. I don't care what
it is. The heavens, Job said, are not
clean in His sight. The sun and the moon that shineth
not, they're not pure in His sight. Stars are not pure. In
this day of that He's declared this day of judgment, He said
the elements are going to melt with a fervent heat. Everything
is going to be destroyed. Everything outside of Christ
is cursed of God. It's cursed. And it's cursed
because of man's fall in the garden. In 1 Corinthians chapter
15, that's the resurrection chapter that I spoke to you from here
the other day, But he goes over these things and he summarizes
all these things in two men, two federal heads, Adam and Christ. And he said in Adam, all die. All die. You see what I'm saying?
Everything outside of Christ is cursed of God. It's not blessed
less, it's cursed. It's cursed of God. Because of
Adam's transgression, we're born in sin. We literally live in
sin. Now, we don't like to own up
to that. No man by nature is going to own up to that. He'll
tell you, I'm not as bad as that man, or perhaps I'm not as good
as this man. But he's not going to tell you
that he is sin and that he's cursed of God. He's not going
to own up to that. In Job chapter 15 and verse 14,
this old man of God, this man that God called a righteous man,
old Job, his servant, he said, what is man that he should be
clean? Talking about all men. What is
man, mankind, that he should be clean and he which is born
of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth
no trust in his saints. God don't put any trust in his
saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much
more abominable and filthy is mankind, man, which drinketh
iniquity like water. He takes no more thought than that. His lies mean nothing between
Him and God. His stealing means nothing between
Him and God. His words mean nothing between
Him and God. There's no fear of God before
His eyes. That's what Paul said. There's
no fear. You tell Him something about God and He'll laugh at
you. You see what I'm saying? His
attitude. He drinks iniquity like water. It means nothing to iniquity. It doesn't mean anything. It
doesn't affect him. He's cursed of God. And men and
women do not recognize sin because they've never known anything
else. That's all we've ever known. David said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. He said, I came forth from the
womb speaking lies. We've never known anything else
all of our life. I was giving this example to
a person one time. And I told him, I said, you take
eight or ten children and put them back here in this room and
give them everything, every kind of toy known to man to play with.
And tell them it's yours. You just go ahead, get whatever
you want, play with it as long as you want to, but don't go
through that door right there. And then come in here in the
peak hole and look back there and see where they go first.
Well, they'll go right straight to that door. What's in here? Open that door up. That's all
we've ever known. That's all we've ever known.
And somebody comes up and starts telling us that we're cursed
of God. Well, what do you mean? What do you mean? And they start
comparing themselves to others because they don't know God.
But it's before God. It's God with whom we have to
do, not you and I. What's the difference? I tell
you that all the time. What's the difference? Your opinion,
my opinion, no difference. We're just worms. But what I
want to know is how I stand before God. And my point is this here
in Ephesians 1 verse 2, is everything outside of Christ is cursed of
God. There's nothing blessed that's
not in Christ. And in that day, he's going to
go on and tell us here in Ephesians chapter 1 about this. In that
day, in that last day, He's going to gather all things, listen
to this, in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He
might gather together in one all things in Christ. He's going to gather it all up
in Christ because that's where His purpose is. That's where His grace is. That's
where His glory is. It all rests in this man. And He's going to gather it all
up in Him, both things in heaven, things in earth, even in Christ. Even in Christ. Everything outside
of Christ is cursed. Isaiah the prophet said this,
we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses...
Now, we're not talking about that state of childhood where
we ran out there and roamed the bars, and drank to
excess, and used the Lord's name in vain like no more thought
to it than if we were saying it, or the, or anything else. He's not talking about that.
Now we're talking about our righteousnesses. We're talking about the good
thing. A fellow told me one time, I was talking to him, This old
fellow, he was mowing the grass down in Vaughn, Louisiana. I
went out to take him a glass of water, and we began to talk,
and he said, I ain't always doing the right thing, but he said,
one thing I can say. Let me tell you something, you're
in trouble if you got one thing. That's too many. One thing I
can say, he said, alcohol never crossed these lips. That's what he's talking about
here. He's talking about our righteousnesses. He's talking
about those things that we got a list. These things over here
are things we did that's wrong, and over here are the things
we did that's good. And we compare the list. And
we don't really want to talk about this list, but we'll go
to this one. And here's my hope before God. I've done this. I've done that. I've tried to
do this. I've tried to do that. Well, Isaiah said, take all them
things you tried to do, all your righteousnesses. And he puts
himself in this category. He said, we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
5. In 1 John 1, in verse 8, he said,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. You're
lying to yourself. Well, I'm not a sinner. That's what that Pharisee prayed,
wasn't it? He thanked God he wasn't like that other man, but
he was worse than the other man. If we say that, if we say we
had no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Verse
10, if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar and His Word
is not in us. Now look over here at chapter
5. Let me see if I can show you this union. I'm talking about
those who are in Christ and those who are out of Christ. Those
things which God has purposed to bless in Christ. And everything
else is cursed. I don't care what it is. I John 5 verse 20, And we
know that the Son of God is come, and given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, that we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. in this man, this God-man, this
mediator, this covenant surety. We come to know the true and
living God. This is how we come to know Him.
This is how we're brought to see Him. This is how you discover
whether or not you're in Him. You can't find that out anywhere
except in looking to Christ. It's the only place you can discover
that. true and living God. We come
to know Him fully, not just in power and justice and wrath.
The world will know Him that way. Your conscience tells you
that He despises evil and that He's going to punish it. Creation
tells you about His Godhead, tells you where He sits. But
I'm talking about knowing Him fully, knowing His redemptive
glory in Christ and to know Him in the sense of having eternal
life, to know Him in kindness and love and mercy and long-suffering
and compassion. We come to know Him savingly
because we see ourselves by faith in our substitute and in our
representative. This is eternal life, to be in
Him, in Him. Now move up one verse. 1 John 5, verse 19. And we know
that we are of God. What's that say? The whole world
lies in wickedness. The whole shooting match. Everything outside of Christ.
You see what I'm saying? You see, what I'm trying to do
here, I'm laboring to establish or tell you this morning the
value of this union to Christ. Everything that's in Christ is
blessed of God. Everything outside of Christ,
I don't care what it is, I don't care how good it is, I don't
care how much the world loves it, I don't care how much the
world sings its praises. Anything outside of Christ is
cursed of God. Cursed of God. When does a man know that? When
does a man come to see that? Well, we've got some examples
in the scriptures. Man comes to know that when he's
seated safely in the ark. And that little light out of
that one window up there goes dark. And he begins to see the
lightning and hear the thunder and hear the screams of those
outside the ark. That's when he knows it. He knows
that when, like Lot, he runs to the mountain. He don't look
back. He runs to the mountain, drags
his two daughters with him, and gets up there inside of a cave,
and then comes up to the mouth of the cave and looks back and
sees the smoke of Sodom and Gomorrah coming up. That's when he knows
it. That's when he knows it. When does he know this? When
he stands on the far side of the sea. And he looks back, and
he sees Egypt in all of its glory destroyed by the waves. And he
looks there, and he knows that. I'm of God, and the whole world
lieth in wickedness. When does he come to see this?
When he looks to the cross, and he sees the wrath of God poured
out on the substitute. Sees it poured out. Sees him
trod the winepress of God's wrath alone. Sees him. Drink. Drink this cup right down to
the bitter dregs. We cannot know the true and living
God or be a partaker of any of His promises and benefits except
we are brought to see these things in the person and work of Christ.
You say, well, I just don't believe God will punish sin that way.
All you need to do is look to the cross. If God's going to
spare anybody, He's going to spare His Son. And He spared
not His Son. Will God punish every sin? He
did in Christ. All who are represented in Him,
all their sins laid on Him. How much wrath did God pour out?
He poured it out until all those sins were paid for. Every last
one, right down to what we would consider the smallest. It has nothing to do with judgment
now. It has nothing to do with those
outside of Christ. Outside of Christ, God is a consuming
fire. consuming fire has to do with
what we are in Christ. And what we are in Christ is
set before us in this man, Jesus of Nazareth. That's the theme
of this book. What am I in Christ? I know what's outside of Christ.
I see that. I see that. Can you see that?
It's cursed of God. It's not blessed. You call this
country blessed? You look at this country and
look at the churches that dot it? We're in a very remote section
of this country here. I don't know if you realize that
or not, but we're in a very remote. You can't go a city block without
finding a church. Then why all the immorality? Why all this effeminate men and
women and gross sinners before God? Why is that? Is this religion
not taken? I hardly know anybody that don't
go to church somewhere. Why doesn't it have an effect
on them? It has to do, I'm telling you,
with what we are in Christ. And what we are in Christ is
set before us in this man, Jesus of Nazareth, in two distinct
ways. In verse 2 of Ephesians chapter
1, he speaks of grace and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls Him there our God. You see that? And our Father. How in the world did He get to
be our God? We were enemies. Huh? Listen to what Paul says over
here in Ephesians chapter 2. We were called the uncircumcision
by that which is called circumcision in the flesh. In other words,
we were called heathens by the religious folk. And that at that
time you were without Christ, aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, now listen, without God in the world. But here, here, he's saying something
different, isn't he? He's saying God, our God. God
our Father. He calls Him our Father and He
calls Him our God. Our God. How do we know Him as
our true God and our Father? Well, read the next verse. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can you see
the benefit of that union? Here's the benefit. He is the
God and Father of Christ. And He's our God and our Father
as we're represented in Christ. That's how He's going to make
this union known. That's how He's going to transmit this understanding. That's how He's going to teach
us what we don't know. That's how He's going to show
us what we don't understand. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now, if all the blessings
are in Christ, then what's outside of Christ? If God has purposed
everything good, everything blessed, everything holy, everything that
we would call and sum up eternal life, if God has put all these
things in Christ, Then what's outside of Christ? Weeping and
wailing and gnashing of teeth. That's what's outside of Christ.
No hope. No hope. Now brethren, He can only be
my God and my Father as He is my God and my Father to my Redeemer. In my representative, I see a
true man. A man born of a woman, made under
the law. He has all my frailties, all
my weaknesses. Shares my humanity, knows my
pain, knows humility, knows anguish. He hungers, he thirsts, he seeks
shelter out of the rain. He needs shade from the heat. He's every whit a man. Every wit of man. Cut him, he
believes. Curse him. Hurt him. He's responsible. He's accountable to God. But
not as an individual. He's accountable as a covenant
head, like Adam. And as the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ, our representative, become a servant. Turn with me to Philippians
chapter 2. Just a few pages over, you have
Ephesians and then you're going back toward Revelations one book,
you come to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 2. Now listen to what he says here.
And this is what saving faith is. Saving faith realizes, is
brought to realize, is brought to know, that their only hope
is in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else is cursed
of God. I don't care what it is. I don't
care what you do. I don't care what you say. I don't care how
you act. Listen to this. Philippians chapter
2 verse 5. Let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God. God. equal with the Father, equal
with the Spirit, eternal God, sovereign God, who being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, and took on him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion
as a man, he humbled himself and become obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. As a servant to God, he must
obey the law in every jot, every tittle, with a love for both
the God who commands it and a preference of his neighbor over himself.
And he did that. He did that. Why would he do
that? He was already equal with God.
Why would he come down and appear as a man and put himself as a
servant under the law? He was already righteous. equal
with God. He already had this eternal life. In Him is life. That's what it
says. No darkness at all. Why would
He do this? Why would He subject Himself
to this? Because He came as a representative. He came as a representative.
And as our representative, He must become a servant to God.
He must do what God commands to be done. There's no other
righteousness except that which our representative provided by
his godly submission and obedience to his God. Now, there's two
declarations made from the cross as our Lord hung there in our
stead. And these two declarations include
these two distinct ways that God makes himself known to the
believer. In one, he cries out, my God. My God, why hast Thou forsaken
me?" My God. Not somebody else's. My God. Scripture often speaks in terms
like that, don't it? Where Christ prays to Him. My
God. My God. And then He cries this
out. He said, Father, He's not talking in this with
a respect to Him as God now. He's talking to Him this way.
He said, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit. He addresses
Him as both God and Father. And in these two things, God
reveals Himself to us through this representative. Through
this representative. He is the God of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And therefore, everything required
of him, appointed for him, tells us who the living God is and
what he demands from fallen sinners. I don't need to speculate or
come up with theories and conjecture. He's the representative of all
that God is blessed. I just read that to you. So do
I want to know what this is all about? Do I want to know what
these blessings are? Do I want to know if I'm beneficiary
of these blessings, then I need to look to Christ because that's
the only place I can be learned. That's the only place I can be
found. All I need to do is look. What
does God require? How will God act? Will God be lenient in His day
of judgment? Will God overlook my ignorance
and blindness in the day of judgment? Will God consider that I've been
lied to? Will God consider that the God
of this world deceived me? How will God act in judgment? Will He be lenient? Will God
spare the sinner by overlooking his sin? I tell you this, look to Christ.
Look to the substitute. All your questions will be answered.
Don't take something way out of context. Don't come down here
and start talking about election and pushing about election. Let's
consider him first. Let's consider who he is, why
he came, what he did, and where he's at. Then we'll talk about
election. You see what I'm saying? We'll
work backward from that. But he's not just the God only. He doesn't just appear to us
as God only, but He's God and Father. Now, that's what makes
the difference. If He's our Father, then all
of His Godhead is now engaged to my benefit, not as my enemy,
but to my benefit. If He's my Father, then I'm His
child. If He's my Father, then I'm His
son. If I'm His son, then I'm His
heir. And I'm heir of all these blessings
that He blessed me with in Christ before the world began. Do you
see that? That's why He's our representative. You've not saw Christ until you
see Him as the substitute and representative of fallen, chosen
sinners. You haven't seen Him arise. God the Father made the decree,
Psalm 2, verse 7, thou art my son. This day have I begotten
thee. This eternal day. This eternal
time. And God put forth His purpose
of grace in that everlasting covenant. And He said, here's
what I'm going to do. I'm going to take my son. I've
appointed him heir of all things. I've appointed him king. Mediator
king. He's going to mediate my will
in all things. And I'm going to sit him on my
holy hill of Zion. That's his church. I'm going
to sit him up as the head over my church. And I'm putting everything
under his feet. And those who sit back and take
counsel against him, it said in Psalm chapter 2, God will
laugh at you. I tried. He'll laugh at you.
You don't think he laughed when Pilate and the high priest and
all those men were down there in that chamber and they'd all
got together and made up all these lies. And we got him now,
boys. We got him right where we want
him. We'll fix and get rid of him. We're going to clear this
whole thing up and everything's going to go back to business
as usual. They sit down there in their confidence and in their
pride and in their arrogance. We got him now. God was laughing. He was laughing. You know why? Because when they did what they
did, it said, where is that? In Acts chapter 4, he said, when
you did what you did, you did exactly what my hand and my counsel
determined before to be done. That's why God laughs. And we
come before Him even right now. Some of you may be out there
and just fighting and kicking against these things, and I'm
not going to have it. God will laugh at you. He'll
laugh at you. Here's my Son, He said, bow to
Him. Surrender to Him. And that's
how He sets him forth here in this book of Ephesians. He just
starts out right off the bat talking to us about God as our
Father. He's our God. But His Godhead
is not engaged against us the way it is other men. It's engaged
to us for good because He's chosen us and predestinated us. We're
going to get into that. We're predestinated under the
adoption of children. He's our Father. Oh my, what
a difference to have the Godhead engaged for you rather than against
you. And that's what Paul argues over
in Romans 8, isn't it? He said, if God be for us, who
can be against us?