Please open your Bibles to Ephesians,
the first chapter. Ephesians, the first chapter. The Apostle Paul had been to
Ephesus, and he preached the gospel to them, stayed there
three years, Warned them night and day from house to house,
publicly and privately. Warned them. Kept back nothing that was profitable
to them. Preached to them the whole counsel
of God. God raised up a church or churches
there in Ephesus. In writing to these people, he
calls them saints of God, faithful in Christ Jesus. And says, grace be to you and
peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
and peace be to you. That's wonderful. Then down in verse 15 of the
first chapter, he prays for them. And it's recorded. It's inspired
of God. Wherefore, I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love unto all the saints
of God, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you
in my prayers. I pray for you continually. Since
I heard of your faith and your love for the saints of God, I
pray for you continually. And here's what I pray for. That
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of himself. that as of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know, know more and more what
is the hope of his calling and what is the riches of the glory
of his inheritance in the saints, God's inheritance in the saints.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe. It's according, now listen, this
is the power that works in us who believe. According to the
working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when He
raised Him from the dead, from death to life, life-giving power
that works in everyone that believes, and set Him in His own right
hand in the heavenly places, that kind of power. For above,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion,
And every name that's named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."
What a prayer. There's another one in the third
chapter where he prays for these saints again. And looking at
each one of them is a blessing. Looking at both of them together
is a great blessing. But the Apostle Paul begins this
letter by informing the saints of God there at Ephesus of several
grand and comforting truths from the Word of God. He tells them
of God's eternal purpose to save them, that God loved them and
chose them and predestinated them to adoption, to a glorious
inheritance before we ever made this world. That's in the first
chapter. The Father's election and predestination
chose us and blessed us in Christ with all spiritual blessings
that we'd ever receive. Given us in Christ before we
ever made this world. That's comforting, if you believe
it. And then he talks about the Son's
redemption. in whom we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sins. Redemption, the forgiveness of
sins, through the work of Christ. Then it talks about the Holy
Spirit quickening, calling, and sealing us unto the day of redemption,
the day of eternal glory. Sealing us. All done according
to the Father's purpose, purpose of the triune God. Let me put
it that way. All done according to the purpose
of the triune God, purposed in Him before the foundation of
the world. Our redemption is of, by, and
through the Lord Jesus Christ, purposed by the divine Trinity. And it's after each one of these
things that talks about the Father's work, and the work of the Son,
and the work of the Holy Spirit, and all after each of those statements
He says, to the praise of the glory of His grace. Why did God
save sinners? For His own great namesake? To
reveal His infinite love and grace? To the praise of the glory
of His grace? What comforting words are these
in this first chapter? My salvation. We're not robots. We have a work to do. But my
salvation is in the hands of the Lord. Salvation is of the
Lord. He purposed it. He planned it. He works it out. He brings it
to pass. He'll bring us to glory. Our
salvation is in the hands of the Lord. His will, His purpose,
His power. I'm going to be saved by God's
will, God's purpose, God's power. If I'm saved at all, that'll
be it. Because He loved me and chose me and blessed me and because
He saved me. I'll be saved through His free
love and grace. Free love, free grace. Given
me, bestowed upon me for no reason, found in me. The reasons found
in the heart of Almighty God. Every spiritual blessing is given
us in Christ. And given us in Him because of
Him. Because of who He is and because of what He accomplished.
What He accomplished. The Son of God. The gloriously
unique God-Man, the Lord Jesus. He lived 33 and a half years.
Obeying the law of God to perfection from the heart, in word, in deed,
in thought. Perfect obedience from the heart
for me, for His people. And at the end of His days, He
had no sin. He did no sin. He knew no sin. By way of experience, He didn't
know what it was to sin. And yet God put all the sins
of all of His elect, all of His people, on Christ. Made Him to
be sin for us. And poured out His infinite wrath
upon Him. So that He cried out for the
first time, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? And the
answer comes back in the Psalms, because Thou art holy. When all
that sin was found on His Son, He turned it back on Him. For the first time throughout
eternity, no fellowship between the Father and the Son. Because our sin was put upon
Him. And God poured out upon Him His
infinite, infinite, infinite wrath. An inflexible, strict
justice. and purged our sins. Now, they're no longer on us. God put them on Him. And they're
no longer on Him. He put them away. They're purged.
They're gone. They're put away. Divine justice
is satisfied. Sins have been punished, put
away, purged, gone forever. He lived to make us righteous
and died to set us free. Thus He, the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself, is our trust. He's our trust. He's our hope.
He's our salvation. Christ is our salvation. It's
so plain and simple. He is the gospel from God to
man. Let me show you. Look it with
me just a moment. Hold your place there, but turn
with me to 1 John, please. Chapter 5. Verse 9. 1 John 5.9. If we receive the witness of
men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not
the Son of God hath made him a liar, because he believeth
not the record, God's record, that God gave of His Son. This
is the record. This is it. That God hath given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath
life. Did not the Lord say in John
14, 6, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life? No man
cometh to the Father, but by me he is salvation. He is life
and salvation, and he is our hope. Thus he tells us to trust
that he is our hope and our salvation. He is the gospel. of God to fallen
men. Now, God chose to save sinners
through the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. And in verse
13, these Ephesians heard the Word of God. Look it. in whom ye also trusted after you came trusting before,
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
You heard it. You believed it. You understood.
You trusted. And it became your salvation,
the gospel of your salvation. in whom also after you believed
you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest, the down payment of what we have ahead. We have rejoicing in Christ,
though we've never seen him, we love him. Rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory. But that's just a down payment.
That's just an earnest. down payment of what we're going
to receive in Him in glory when we depart this life. The earnest
of our inheritance is the redemption of the purchased possession under
the praise of His glory. Our redemption won't be complete
until our bodies have been redeemed also by the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. After they heard, it became the
gospel of their salvation. But there must be, and I'm emphasizing
this more and more because people believe, people believe, less
and less, there must be hearing and understanding and believing. Hearing and understanding, giving
us something to believe and we believe it. There's no salvation
without that. We've got to hear. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Faith
comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. We hear the
Word of God. We understand what we heard,
and we believe it by the grace of God, that's salvation. Trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. After you
heard, you trusted, it became your gospel, the gospel of your
salvation. Now, these people heard, they
understood, they knew Christ, they trusted Christ, and yet
there's a progressive learning, and that comes through hearing.
If we have been saved, we're being saved, and one day we'll
be completely, entirely saved. It's a process over time, and
we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the way it works. Progressive learning. And that
progressive learning is not through visions and revelations, but
through hearing, and believing, and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this brings us to Paul's
prayer. Verse 15. Worrying I also, after I heard of your faith in
the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints. Cease not to
give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. Since I
heard of your love of God, your faith in God, your love for the
people of God, I have not ceased to pray for you, continue to
pray for you, continue to keep you in my prayers. Now listen
to this. I've heard of your faith and
your love to the saints of God. And I pray for you. You're the
children of God. Your faith and your love. Now,
look at 1 John just a moment. 1 John. This is not taught as it ought
to be in our day by so many. 1 John 3. Verse 14. How do we know that
we have passed from death unto life? We know, saith the Lord,
we know that we have passed from death unto life. Because we love
God's people. We love the brethren. He that
loveth not his brother is still dead, still lost, without Christ,
without God. Whosoever hateth his brother
is a murderer. And you know that no murderer
hath eternal life abiding in him. Look at 1 John chapter 5
verse 1. Whosoever That means everybody
that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him,
God, and everyone that loveth him
that beget, God, loveth also, loveth him also that begot. If
they love God, they love God's children. We know by that. that we've passed from death
unto life. You can look at the Gospel according to John verses
chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. This is the commandment that
I've given to you that you love one another even as I loved you.
And by this, and by this, shall all men know that you're my disciple.
You love each other. And men will see that, that you
love each other. You know that you've passed from
death unto life People around you know that you're the children
of God. You love each other. You love
each other. Now in verse 16. And he continually thanked God
for them and for His grace in them. Verse 16 back in Ephesians. Cease not to give thanks for
you making mention of you in my prayers, praying for them,
holding them up before the throne of grace, praying for them, praying
for them, not forgetful of them. Pray for them continually that
they might abound, not in physical and material things, but in spiritual,
eternal blessings from God. The Bible says in Matthew 6.33,
Seek ye first the kingdom of God. All these material things,
they'll be added to you. You'll have all you need. But
seek first, seek first, seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness. He prayed for them continually.
Verse 17, simply stated, He prayed that God would teach and reveal
unto them more and more of Himself. If you know God, you want to
know Him. If you love Him a little, you want to love Him. That's
just the way it is. There's something begun in us
that won't be complete until we're in glory. Desires, new
desires, new creation, new nature. We want to know God. Paul, later
on in his ministry, in the later years, said, Oh, that I may know
Him. You've been preaching Him for
years. Oh, that I might know Him, and win Him, and be found
in Him, and be made like Him. Philippians 3. There's no end
to it until we're made perfect. Made like Him. In glory. In glory. Look at verse 19 of
chapter 3 of this book. In another prayer, that they
might know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that
you might be filled with all the fullness of God. You might
learn more and more and more of Him until you are more and
more like Him. More and more like Him. Simply
stated, verse 17, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of glory, May it give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in knowing Him, that you might know Him more and more. That
He might be more and more revealed to you through the Word, by faith. That God might reveal Himself
more and more to you. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. David prayed, O God, open thou
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
He was a man born of God, a child of God, a king, a man after God's
own heart, and yet he still prays like that. The saints of God
do that. Eyes being enlightened, how does
that come? It comes through grace. Through faith. Through God's
Word. Understanding. Hearing God's
Word. Reading God's Word. You know
what happens by the Spirit and grace of God? It becomes real. It's not a dreamy, imaginary,
far-off something. It becomes real. Real! And that's what He prays for.
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 3, the last chapter and
the last verse. I believe it's 3.18. Spiritual
knowledge, spiritual understanding, that you may know. This is amazing. I'd like to
know more about this, but I won't know it fully until I
get to glory. that you may know what is the
hope of his calling." The hope of his calling. Peter
said we're born again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Born again unto a living hope.
That's what we have. It's not a dead hope. It's a
living hope. It's a lively hope, as the word
is spoken in Peter, that you may know what is the hope of
his calling. What is our hope? What is the
joy that's set before us? What is the hope of our calling?
Well, we have a down payment. We have an earnest. We have our
taste. We've tasted that the Lord is
gracious, that the Lord is good. But God calls sinners to Christ
through the preaching of the gospel. It's a call out of darkness
into light. It's a call out of death into
life. And there's a hope, a sure hope
set before us, a certain hope, a living hope. A hope that, as
I said, is sure and certain. A hope the saints of God embrace
and live upon and wait for. Hope is what you, you hope for
something, you wait for it, you look for it, you wait for it.
It's an expectation of something to come. It's not just, well,
I hope so, as if you didn't know for sure, but I hope so. No,
it's an expectation of something future. These people, in Hebrews
11, they lived in hope. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, their
wives and their children, they lived in, these all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but they saw them afar off. They
were persuaded of them, and they embraced them. And they just passed through
this world in hope, waiting, looking for a city which hath
foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They had hope. They lived in hope. They lived
on hope. They embraced hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. They embraced
hope. What is a believer's hope? Many
things. By faith, we have forgiveness
of sin. Right now, there's no condemnation.
And that's a wonderful thing. But boy, we're still full of
sin. But we hope for a day when we won't be anymore. By faith we have forgiveness.
By faith we're justified, reconciled to God. By faith we have peace
with God in our hearts. Look at Romans 15, 13, just a
moment. There's so many places. I ran
down the word hope is what I did. There's so many places that I
could read to you from. But look at verse 13. Now the
God of hope. If you don't get your hope from
God, you got a false hope. Now the God of hope. Fill you with all joy and peace
in believing. that you may abound in hope. Believe more and more. Your hope
become more real through the power of the Holy Ghost. Depends
on the Lord. Believing and hoping. Believing
and hoping. Look at 1 John 3. What is our
hope? 1 John 3. Look there a moment. our hope, the end of our faith,
the end of the purpose of God, we are predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son, made like Christ, without sin, in
a place that is without sin. Look at it. Verse 1, chapter
3, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God. Boy, that's
something. Right now, right now we're the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Beloved, right now, this morning,
sitting right here in this church building, some of you are the
sons of God, daughters of God. God is your Father. Oh, how that ought to melt our
hearts. If He's our Father, He's going to take care of us. And He will. Now, right now, you're the sons
of God. You're not condemned. You're
justified. You're reconciled. You're friends
of God. But it does not appear, does
not yet appear, what we shall be. But we know that when He
shall appear, we shall be like Him. We shall see Him as He is
and be made like Him. When we see Him as He is, we'll
be made like Him. And every man, now this is part
of that too, every man that hath this hope, what hope? Of being made like Him. Every
man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself even as He is
pure. He don't live like hell. He don't
turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. He knows one day, and it's His
hope, a living hope, that He's going to be made without sin
and be with Christ. And He's working that way now,
working that direction. He's not under the dominion and
the power of sin. He doesn't live under the power
of sin. No more. Let me look at one other
place. Look at 2 Peter. 2 Peter. Chapter 3. Verse 10. When Christ shall appear,
we'll see Him as He is. We'll be made like Him. And that's
our hope. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night. That means unexpected, in an
hour when you think not. In which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. Seeing this, that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in
all holy conversation or lifestyle and godliness? Looking forward,
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless, We, according to His promise, we
have hope. And this is what we hope for.
We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be
diligent that you may be found of Him in peace, without spot,
and blameless, and account that every day you wake up is the
day of salvation. God's going to save somebody
or He wouldn't have given us another day. A day of salvation. The believer's hope. I could go on and on and on.
I wrote down a lot of verses, but look at Romans 8 just a moment.
I like these verses. I love these verses. I reckon that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed, not just to us, but in us. The glory of being made
without sin, being made like Christ. For the earnest expectation
of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly,
but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because
the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
That means, putting this with what we read in 2 Peter 3, that
means God is going to purify this earth for His people. That's
part of our hope. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible, undefiled, never fade away. You never get tired
of it. Never get tired of it. It's as precious 10,000 years
from now as it was when you first had hope. More precious. Well, we know
that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together
until now. How men have raped this earth
and tried to destroy this earth. Turned it away from what it used
to be. Trying to improve it, they destroyed it. Created atomic
energy and stuff. There's no way to get rid of
it. Deadly chemicals you can't get rid of. They put this earth in bondage
to sin, corruption. God did. But one day, this whole
creation is going to be delivered. A new heaven and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth nothing but righteousness." That's what Peter
said. And he said, hastening unto the
day of the Lord. Let it come. Even so, Lord Jesus,
come quickly. Not only they, but we ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, We're sealed with
the spirit of promise. We have the earnest to down payment,
which are the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves,
grown within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, that is the
redemption of these old sinful bodies. That'll be the end of
our redemption. For we are saved by hope. That's what I'm hoping for. That's
what I'm waiting for. That's what I'm looking for.
That's what I'm expecting. We're saved by hope, but hope
that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, what hath
he yet hoped for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Sometimes I get
impatient. Look at Philippians just a moment. I believe it's chapter 3. Yes it is. Verse 20. This word conversation here means
citizenship. Our citizenship is in heaven. Your citizenship is in heaven. You were born down here in this
world, in some country. You have a citizenship of some
country, but that's been overruled and overridden. You now have
a citizenship, a heavenly citizenship in glory. From whence also we
look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall, and
this is my hope, Change our vile body that it may be fashioned
like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby
He is able us to do all things unto Himself. This old fleshly,
sinful clod of dust that stands in front of you this morning
is one day going to be changed and made like Christ, the body
He wears now. I'll be made like Him. Spurgeon
said all of his children will be little portraits of Christ. All made like Him. All made like
Him. And that's part of our hope.
That's part of our hope. And what is... Sometimes I wonder if I believe
anything. And what is the riches of the
glory of God's inheritance in the saints? We looked at our
hope. We looked at our inheritance.
We looked at our future. But what are we to Him? Now let me point this out first
by saying this. Romans 8.32, I believe. He that
spared not his own son We must be something special to Him.
He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, delivered
Him up for us all, we must be something special to Him. Will
He not also with Him freely give us all things? We must be something special
to God. Look at Deuteronomy 32. This is the Old Testament, but it's
true of the elect of God. Believers. Now, if you're a believer here
this morning, this is true of you. And I wish God would enable
you to take it to heart. When the Most High divided the
nations of their inheritance, when He separated the sons of
Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number
of His chosen people, Israel. And He did it because the Lord's
portion is His people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. And it shows how he found Israel
in a desert. He found us in the same place,
a dry and thirsty land where no water was. He brought the
water to us. First Peter 2.9. This is true of you who are believers. You are a chosen race. Chosen
of God, loved of God, blessed of God, called of God, kept by
God. You're a chosen generation. You're
a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. You're a peculiar people, a special
treasure. that you should show forth the
praises of His glory, the praises of Him who hath called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light." Look at, I believe it's Isaiah
43. Isaiah 43. Now, to those people who believe that
God loves all men alike and He must treat them all alike, they
ought to read passages like this. Read it with me. Now thus saith
the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel, you don't have a thing to fear. You don't have a thing to fear.
What about what I hear on the political scene, the religious
scene, the apostasy? You don't have a thing to fear. Fear not. I redeemed thee. I called thee by name. You're
mine. You belong to God. When you pass through the waters,
I'll be with you. I'll never leave you. I'll never
forsake you. And through the rivers they shall
not overflow thee. Do you remember the Red River? Do you remember the Jordan River,
the Red Sea? When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. Remember the fiery furnace where
the three Hebrews were thrown in? They didn't even smell like
smoke when they came out. That's our God. We're His children. He bought us. We're His. He's
going to take care of us. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior. Let's talk about Israel now,
primarily, and then all the elect of God. I gave Egypt for your
ransom. He destroyed Egypt to redeem
Israel. Ethiopia and Sheba also. gave them for thee, sacrificed
them for thee. Since thou wast precious in my
sight, thou hast been honorable, I have loved thee, therefore
will I give men for thee and people for thy life." God will sacrifice people and
nations and whatever for the salvation of His chosen, those
who are His portion. Fear not, I am with thee. You
don't have anything to fear. God's your God. Keep these verses
in mind. Isaiah 43. Read those first few
verses. Turn back there every now and
think about that. God gave in the historical context. God took a people, a small people,
and raised them up to a great nation in Israel, a numerous
people, multitude. He took them out of Egypt, destroyed
Egypt for his people, for their deliverance, for their redemption.
Brought them 40 years in the wilderness and led them into
a land that had several nations in that land. And that nation,
they had houses and lands and cities and crops and vineyards
and olive yards, all these things. God drove the people out or killed
the people and gave it to Israel. God loves all men alike. That's for the foolish people.
It's not so. It wasn't so back then. It's
not so now. It never was so. It never will
be so. Look at one other place. Zephaniah. The little book of
Zephaniah. I remember reading this one time
and I just It's just shocking. It's overwhelming. We talk about the love of God.
He loved us. He gave His Son for us. His only
begotten Son. That's why I said before I started
reading these verses, sometimes I wonder if I believe anything
or not. But if God would plant this on your heart this morning
and keep it there, oh, what a difference it would make. Verse 14, Zephaniah
chapter 3, verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion, and
you have a lot of reason to. Shout, O Israel, and be glad
and rejoice with all your heart. O daughter of Jerusalem, You
have a lot of reason to. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. That's the first reason. He put
away your sin. He hath cast out thine enemy. The
King of Israel, even the Lord, is right here this morning in
the midst of thee. thou shalt not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, there's that term again, fear thou not. We're so
full of unbelief and so quick to fear and be troubled about
everything. Fear not. And to Zion, let not thy hands
be slack. Go to work. The Lord thy God
is in the midst of thee. Listen to this verse. This is
it. This verse. Who's in the midst
of thee? The Lord God Almighty. The Lord
thy God. He's your God. He made you His.
The Lord thy God is in the midst of thee. He is mighty. He will save. Now look at these
other terms. He will rejoice over thee with
joy. We rejoice in our God, but he
rejoices in his people. We're his portion. We're the
lot of his inheritance. We're the apple of his eye, the
people of his heart. Gave his son for us. He will rest or take joy in his
love. He will rejoice over thee with
singing. We sing praises to our God. We try to get the best hymns
we can and bring glory to Him and lift Him up and exalt His
name. And yet our God is said to take
joy in us and sing praises over us. Joyful song. What a God we have. What a gospel. Salvations of
the Lord. It's going to work out well.
And I know what the end is. And I have a sure hope and a
certain hope. And I wait. Not as patiently
as I ought sometimes, but I wait. I wait. Expectedly, it's going to happen. Because I read his year. And
if I get to doubting, I can turn back and read it again. And if
my faith becomes weak, I can turn back and read it again.
It's still right here. David, let's have a song, please.
God bless these words to every heart. Increase our faith and
our hope.