All right, now if you'll take
your Bibles and turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1. I'm going to do my best to complete
verse 1 this morning. There's so much in this. I know
that that statement is a little humorous, but there's so much
in here that when you read, you take for granted I just don't even think we consider.
Have you ever, when you read the book of Ephesians, considered
the apostleship of Paul, and what that meant, and the impact
of it, and what's the reason why he states it up front, and
all those type of things? We don't do that. We just read
them and go on. Same thing with genealogies. You know, you come
to a genealogy, and you go half the names you can't pronounce
anyway, and if you could, You don't see what bearing that's
got on anything, so you skip through it and go on. But all
of these things have reasons. Everything that's in the Word
of God has a purpose and a reason for being there. Now, I don't
say that go to a genealogy and camp out on it for six months
until God gives you some understanding of it. But I'm just saying don't
dismiss it. Because in time, you're going
to go back there and begin to see some significance. And as
we've studied, some of these godly women who in the past,
and we look at these circumstances like Ruth and some of these women,
and then we really get in trouble when we don't take time to consider
who they are because God mentions them in the lineage of Christ.
He mentions these three women and they're very significant.
But last week, the first week I just kind of gave everybody
an overview of the book and what it's about and where we're going
to be going in it and so on, especially with this first chapter.
And then last week we looked at what an apostle is. This is
the highest office in the church, an apostle. And it's a very unique
office and it was unique in three ways. It's unique because These
men were to complete and finish writing the full canon of Scripture. God has nothing else to say to
us apart from His book. It's done. It's complete. It's
finished. It doesn't need anything. And
He warns us in the book of Revelations about taking anything out of
it or adding anything to it. It's complete. It's complete. And then secondly, He had these
men, these apostles, and there's 12 of them. And I told you why
that was. That represents the whole church
of God. And these men not only were going
to be writers of the scripture, and these ones that God singled
out. Now there was a lot of men who
wrote, and I think even the Catholics, they have additional books that
we don't have in our King James Version written during the 400
years between Malachi and Matthew. There was 400, most people call
them the 400 silent years, but there was men who wrote during
that time that were not incorporated in the early church. And I'm
assuming by that that God didn't mean for them to be incorporated
in with this full canon of scripture. But these 12 men, he did. And
the reason I say that is because these 12 men, he confirmed by
things that they did, supernatural gifts that he gave them. They
raised the dead, John. And men say to me, well, I just
think this thing of universal church and whatever, whatever
it is that they go the opposite direction on, we just think those
things are good. And I told the folks over in
Wichita Falls yesterday, if that's the way you feel, I'll tell you
what, let's do it. We'll just load up at the church. And we'll
go out here till we find a cemetery. I'll let you pick it out, whichever
one you want. And we'll go in there, and if you can raise any
man in there that's buried, any one of them, call them back to
life, I'll sit down and listen to what you got to say. Other
than that, I'm going to stick with these guys because they
did raise the dead. We'll go here at Mississippi
to that leper clinic over there, and anybody with diagnosed leprosy
whose ears and lips and things are falling off, you cleanse
any one of them, any one of them, and I'll give you an ear. Other
than that, I'm listening to these 12 men. You see what Paul said?
He knew this book was going to be controversial. My soul, I
could get up to you and read Ephesians chapter 1 this morning.
If you weren't a believer, you'd be angry. And I ain't done anything
except read what he wrote. He knew it was going to be controversial.
And so he tells them, I'm an apostle. I'm an apostle. So this very unique office was
given to these men because, and not only that, but they were
about to usher in a new age. The Jews had, you think about
what all they had. I wrote down, Caleb asked me,
he and I were discussing some things, and he looked over at
my Bible, and I had some things written there, and he said, what's
that 635 about? I said, that's how many statutes
there were in the Mosaic Law, 635 statutes. 635 things those men had to learn
and obey in the Law of Moses. Say, we just thought there was
10. Well, there's not 10. There's 635. And he said, cursed
be anyone who continueth not, everyone who continueth not in
all things, all 635 of them, written in the Book of the Law
to do. So here they are. Temples, and tabernacles, and
priesthoods, and animal sacrifices, and labors to wash in, and holy
days, and feast days, and weeks to be kept, and years of jubilee. And you could just go on, and
on, and on with the things that they had. And along comes these
12 men, and they say, we're not doing this anymore. We're not
doing this. God's revealed, He's fulfilled
these things in Christ. He's fulfilled these ceremonies.
And He took them out of the way. He took this whole church structure,
the way it was represented in this world through a nation,
He took that whole thing. He said, it's waxed old, it had
faults, and I'm moving it out of the way. It served its purpose.
It stood there, and it showed you in type and picture what
the Lord was all about what his coming, his person, his sacrifice. It showed you what that was about.
It taught you. It fulfilled the purpose. He's
taking it out of the way. And he's no longer going to be
represented in this world by a single denomination or a universal
church, but he's going to be represented by local assemblies.
And we're going to point over them pastors according to the
commandment of Christ. We're going to set pastors in
those churches. And those churches are going
to anoint and set apart missionaries, and we're going to send them
out into foreign land. This is how this thing's going
to be. And just like John the Baptist, nobody baptized till
he come along. All of a sudden, he started baptizing.
And they said, well, where'd you get your authority to do
that? You see what I'm saying? God, He's ushering in a new age
here. That's what this is all about.
And He anoints these 12 men with special gifts. They could go
into any land, anywhere, and just start talking, John, in
your own language. They understood what you said.
You understood what they said. That's tongues. That's what tongues
is all about. He gifted these men with supernatural
gifts because He was ushering in a new age and He was He was
putting his stamp of approval. The Holy Spirit inspired them
as they wrote these letters to the churches. And then thirdly,
he establishes the church as it's now revealed both in Christ
and in the unveiled mystery of the Gentiles. A Jew never gave
a thought about a Gentile being saved. They didn't see that in
the Old Testament scripture, though it is in there. But it's
hidden. It's veiled. And they couldn't
see it. But now it's revealed. It's revealed that these Gentiles,
and God has a church. It's spiritual Israel. It's not
natural Israel. It's spiritual Israel. And there's
no universal, visible church, which the name Catholic implies.
And there's no concept of denominationalism Those things are contrary to
the New Testament scriptures. You can't find them. You can't
even find them in picture. When he pictures the church in
Revelation chapter 1, it's represented by seven churches. That's what
he says, the seven churches of Asia. And in his hand is seven
stars. He tells you what they are. They're
angels. They're ministers. These seven stars, that's how
the church is represented in this age. And that's how it's
going to be represented clear to the end of time. And this
thing of denominationalism, it's contrary to the New Testament
church. And you can't find it in the Acts of the Apostles or
in any of these New Testament epistles. It's not even hinted
at. And this whole deal about presidents and popes and presbyteries
and committees and councils and senates and all those things,
they're all contrary to the teaching of the New Testament. It says in Hebrews 10, verse
9, He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.
And that's not the only time He says that. He begins back
in Hebrews 7 with it. And then He tells you in Hebrews
8 that He's going to establish this new covenant. He's going
to come to His people. He's going to reveal Himself
for who He is in Christ. And He's going to write His laws
in their minds and on their hearts. It's not going to be the way
it was. And this is a tremendous, shocking
statement. I realize that. You know, I stand
up here and I'm telling you, you go down here on this corner
and that corner and in town, and my soul, I drove over Wichita
Falls and back. All the notebook paper I have
here, if I'd have wrote small, wouldn't have held the names
of the churches between here and there. It's amazing, and
I'm standing here telling you just like John did. He said,
we know that we are of God in the whole world, life and wickedness.
That's a bold statement, isn't it? That's why people call us
cults over here. Well, they think they're the
only one. No, I don't believe we're the only one. But I don't
believe there's as many as what you see in these buildings either.
I believe God has a church and His church, they believe these
things. They do exactly as these things are set forth in the scriptures.
And Paul knew these things that he was about to teach that were
very controversial. Very controversial. And so he
tells us up front that he's an apostle. He's an apostle. And then he
not only tells us that he's an apostle, but look at this. He
said, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. Boy, don't skip over that. My,
so God raised him from the dead. He came into this world, appeared
before this world, did a work, sin of God. Nobody could stop
him. Nobody could hinder him. Nobody, I don't care, everybody
tried to kill him. Everybody tried to make him out
to be a liar. Everybody tried to disprove him.
Everybody tried to destroy his work and couldn't touch him.
Even Satan tempted him. Found nothing in him. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I come to do the will
of him that sent me. And that's what he did, didn't
he? Huh? Sure he did. How'd I know that? Because God raised him from the
dead. Oh, this no here says, I'm Christ.
My name's Mohammed. My name's Buddha. My name's Baal. My name, all through time, they
all stand. I'm the Christ. I'm the one he's
talking about. Huh? I think I'm going to stick
with the one God raised from the dead, don't you? Yeah. He raised him from the dead.
And when he did, he declared that that redemption that he
came to accomplish was finished, complete, and approved. Boy, that's something, isn't
it? He declared that his love was
unchangeable. I preached that to you last Sunday.
That all his purpose to do shall be accomplished. My soul, if
nobody could stop him from doing what he did, what are they going
to do with him now? That was in his humility. Now
God glorified him and said he made his right hand and given
him all power in heaven and earth. Now who's going to stop him?
Huh? God raised him from the dead.
And all that he's purposed to do shall be accomplished. He
declared this when he raised him from the dead. His mediatorial
rule cannot fail. Cannot. God purposed him from
the foundation of the world, put his people in him. It's he
who first trusted in Christ over in Ephesians chapter 1. That's
God. God first trusted in Christ. All that he's purposed to do
is going to be accomplished. Mediatorial rule cannot fail.
And his sacrifice for sin remains eternally effectual. So He can
save all who come to God by Him to the uttermost. That's why
I don't preach anything else. Everything God has for sinners
is in Christ. Why do I want to talk about this,
that, and the next thing? Here's where life is. That's
what John said. He wrote these things that you
might know that you have eternal life. And this life is in His
Son. He that hath the Son hath life. We base these bold claims on
the enthroned Christ who rules and mediates God's sovereign
grace to chosen sinners. And then I'll tell you this.
These 12 men He sent into the world, He confirmed them the
same way He did Christ. That's what it tells us over
in Hebrews chapter 2. God confirming them also. He said, this thing
at the first began to be spoken by the Lord in verse 3 and was
confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. God also bearing them
witnessed both with signs and wonders and diverse miracles,
gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His own will. Now he tells us this. If any
man speak not according to this book, it's because there's no
light in him. That man stands up and begins to give in to the
people. I know what men want. They want
music. They want to be entertained.
They want to come here and somebody stand up here and play a guitar
and sing or recite poetry or talk about an experience. I know
what they want. I know exactly what they want.
But that won't do you any good. That won't do you any good. And
the Lord said, if any man speak not according to this book, it's
because there's no light in him. If he's standing up here rattling
about whatever, there's no light in him. You don't need him. Stars in the hands of Christ,
stars have light. They've been given light. You
go out at night and look up, you see stars. Why? Because they're
lit. Otherwise, you wouldn't see them. This man who stands and preaches
to you, these pastors and teachers, they stand up here. If they're
just rattling, you better leave and go somewhere else. They got
no light. If they don't speak according
to this book, there's no light in them. Now Paul, he's just a man. He's
got nothing in himself, nothing in his ministry to give any personal
honor. He's not asking men to believe
him because he's Paul. He said, I'm just Paul. But I'm
an apostle. I'm an apostle. He said, I'm
the chief of sinners. And God saved me that in me he
might set forth an example of this salvation. He's showing
you how deep he'll go to save sinners in me. Went all the way
to the bottom and saved me and sent me forth as a pattern for
all those who shall believe. But he said, I ain't one whit
behind the cheapest of the apostles. Not one whit. My authority's
not in me, it's in Christ. And that puts me as an equal.
As an equal. He said, I'm an apostle of Jesus
Christ. He's the head of the church.
He's the one that does the appointing. And I'll tell you this. And I
can speak from experience. And if a young man thinking about
preaching is listening to me now or will listen to me on the
internet, I'm going to tell you something. God appoints preachers. Don't you run up there. Don't
you run up there and say, I'll do this. No, you can't do this. You can go up there and make
noise for a while, and you can go up there and say some things.
You might even say right things. But only God can give you that
office. This calling is of God. It's
of God. How shall he preach except he
be sent? Ain't that what the scriptures
say? Well, I just cut the head off
of hundreds of thousands of men with that statement. May have cut my own head off.
How shall he preach except he be sent? Paul knew that. So he said, I'm an apostle. of
Jesus Christ, now watch this, by the will of God. That's quite
a recommendation there. I'm an apostle. God's gifted
me. Paul raised the dead. Do you
remember, was it, seemed to me like there was a young woman
that was possessed and following along behind them, chanting,
chanting, chanting, chanting, just on and on. These are the
apostles of the Most High God, and just chanting and making
fun of them. He got tired of it. He turned around and he said,
come out of her. He cast out the demons out of
that woman. Raised the dead. Healed the crippled. Spoken all these languages. Shipwrecked
out there, day and night at sea. swam in on this island. Here
he is on this island and they built a fire over there with
the natives and there he tells them about who he is and why
he was out at sea and all of these things and who he represented
and all those things and he was standing there around that fire
with them and he reached down and picked up a piece of firewood
and a viper. Pow! Hit him right on him. Paul just kept on talking, shook
it off in the fire. Everybody was looking to see
if he was going to swell up. He didn't swell up. He kept right
on preaching. I think I listened to him, wouldn't
you? Yeah. So that's what he's telling these
people. And he said, I'm not just an
apostle in the sense of all these supernatural things that you
see. And some of them have seen these things and fell down and
tried to worship them. And they said, oh, no, don't do that.
Don't do that. You worship God. We're apostles. and begin to tell them what these
gifts and things were all about. But they were apostles, and they're
apostles of Jesus Christ, and they're apostles by the will
of God. Now, let me show you this. I've
got about six minutes left. Let me show you this. Look here
in verse 2. No, I mean the last part of verse
1. I'm sorry. He said, I'm an apostle of Jesus
Christ by the will of God. And what I write, what I'm writing
here, is to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. What is a saint? I see these little things dangling
off the mirrors. My father-in-law was Catholic,
and I asked him one time, I said, who is that dangling off your
mirror up there? And he said, that's, I forget
who he said, St. Vincent or St. Thomas or whatever
he was. He's supposed to be the saint
of travel. He watches over you while you're
traveling, this saint. But what is a saint? What is
this? What's he talking about? Everything
he's writing here is to saints. What is a saint? A saint, the
word means sanctified one. That's what it means. Sanctified
one. I'm writing these things to a
people sanctified of God. Well, how in the world do you
do that? Well, you're sanctified in God the Father. He's fixing
to tell us that here just shortly. But you're sanctified by God
the Father in eternal election. Huh? That's what the Lord told
His disciples. He said, you didn't choose me.
I chose you. You didn't come hunt me up. I come hunted you
up. He said, I must need to go through
some areas. She wasn't looking for Christ.
She came out to get water. She didn't even want to be seen
by the other women around or anybody else. She came out there
at an odd hour to get water. She wasn't looking for Him. He
was looking for her. Why? Because God the Father sanctified
a people. He chose them and put them in
Christ before the foundation of the world. He chose a people.
Well, that's contrary to what men are saying, isn't it? I just don't seem right. Well,
God doesn't do things the way it seems to you. He ought to
know. He said, where were you when I created the world? Who
was my counselor? Who first told me what to do?
I'm God. This whole thing of universal
salvation and everybody can be saved and all this kind of nonsense,
this is all from man's perspective, not from God's. He said, I'm
God. That's what he told Isaiah. He
said, I'll tell you how you know I'm God. He said, you go get
all these so-called gods and bring them up here and let them
ask of me. Let them ask of me. And I'll
ask of them, where was you when I created the world? You just whittled last week.
Where was you? Who first been my counselor?
Who'd I sit around and talk to when I created the world? I'm
God. I declare the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. I'm God. If I want to feed my prophet
with a ravenous bird, I'll call him from the east and send him
over here. And that crow will fly over to that cave and feed
my prophet. I'm God. You don't tell me what
to do. Who art thou? That's what he
says there in Romans 9. Paul said, does this ruffle your
feathers? Does this make you upset? Does this make you mad?
God told Rebecca, you're two unborn children before they ever
did any good or any evil that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand. I love Jacob, and I hate Esau. That ruffle your feathers? He
said, who art thou, old man, who flies up into the face of
God and questions him? I'm the potter. You're the clay.
And if you must know of the same lump, he said, I make this vessel
and that one out of the same lump. And the reason he's on
my mantle, a vessel of mercy aforeprepared under glory, the
reason he's up there, according to the good pleasure of my will.
According to the riches of my grace. That's why he's up there
and that man's down there. Because they were both down there
at one time. You see what I'm saying? This thing's of God.
And that's what he says. I'm writing to the sanctified
ones which are at Ephesus, and then we're sanctified in Christ
Jesus. It tells us over in Hebrews chapter
10, by one offering, He has sanctified us forever. He purchased us. He bought us the right and privilege
to be sons of God. And then we're sanctified by
the Holy Spirit of God who comes to us and reveals our sanctification
in the Father and in the Son. We're sanctified every which
way. That's why they call them saints. Saints. And just so you don't misunderstand,
He said also to the faithful. That's all believers. That's
what that word means. Men of faith. Men who believe. You can't be a saint and not
believe. You're called to be saints, and you're called and
given faith. So the problem that I see with
this thing of universal church and universal love and universal
forgiveness and universal redemption, besides being contrary to the
Word of God, is that it leaves men and women with a false hope. They're reaching in here and
grabbing promises that's not for them. Paul makes this very
clear right up at the start. So does Peter. So does Peter. He said, I'm writing to God's
elect. That's who I'm writing to. And then I see bumper stickers
that say, smile, God loves you. Well, he didn't love Esau. Huh? He didn't love them folks out
there. I didn't see no bumper sticker on the outside of the
ark. That little smiley face on it. Huh? That's right. I'm telling you,
all of these things that men preach are of men. What these
men wrote was of God. And that's what he's telling
you up front. And here's another thing I told them over in Wichita,
it's God who sanctifies the circumstance. I don't care what the circumstance
is. I don't care what it is. It's how that thing is relevant
to God that makes the difference. That's what makes it a blessing. It's relevance to God. God may
give you cancer, but if you're one of His, cancer is just an
open door into glory. That's all that is. It's a blessing. If you ain't, now it's a curse. It's bad news. Bad news. You see what I'm saying? It's
relevance to God. God sanctifies the circumstance. He takes that circumstance, either
makes it a blessing or a curse. And so when we look at these
things like we're fixing to do here in the book of Ephesians,
we're going through here and studying these things, I just
want to make that, I want to impact that on you as much as
God has with me. These things are of God. They're
of God. These men rode as they were moved
by the Holy Spirit of God. May the Lord bless this nation.