And our reading this morning
will comprise verses 1 through 14, and I urge you to give your undivided
attention to the reading and the hearing read of this passage
of Scripture. Of all the passages in our Bibles, none can outdo this one. Here
is one of the clearest, most detailed expressions of God's
glorious purpose of redemption in Christ to be found anywhere
in our Bibles. Not any other place in all of
the books of this Bible treat any more clearly or plainly salvation
as it is expressed as being the work of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Just not another passage that
can surpass this one. I'm telling you, this is a statement. What a glorious statement indeed. And when we come to verses 3
through verse 14, we're going to find, when we are reading
about the saving work of God the Father, God the Son, and
God the Holy Spirit, we're going to find that there are only three
sentences that make up those verses, which clearly distinguishes
for us the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is one powerful passage.
It is glorious indeed. May God help us. Without His help and aid, I might as well be reading today's
newspaper. God help us. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God to the saints, to the saints. You mean Ephesus
had more than one saint? Every believer in that place
is declared to be a saint. And that's still how it works.
To the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus. This greeting in verse 2 is found
in many of the letters of the New Testament, and I urge you
to pay particular attention to the order in our Bibles of the
two words, grace and peace. No peace without grace. and no
grace that does not result in peace. 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 has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies, or in heavenly places, in Christ."
Now that's the first verse that is a part of the first sentence,
and if you would carefully note the punctuation at the end of
verse three is a colon, so the sentence continues. What we have
in verse 3 is a statement of what God does for us in Christ,
and now we have it broken down. Verse 4, speaking about all of
these spiritual blessings that belong to God's children in Christ,
verse 4 declares the first of them, according as He has chosen
us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. God's election of grace is before
the foundation of the world and His children are said to be chosen
in Christ. To this end, that we should be
holy. No wonder Paul called them saints.
Here it says that they were holy. That we should be holy and without
blame before Him, before God, in love. And here's the second
thing in verse 5, and we still haven't reached the end of the
sentence. The period comes at the end of verse 6. Verse 5,
having predestinated. People often hear that word,
they say, uh-oh, I don't believe in predestination. Well, surely
you believe in what the Bible says about predestination. If
you don't do that, you've got a problem. And your problem ain't
with me. It's with God. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. What is predestinated in this
statement? Adoption. adoption. Now, most of us were not adopted
in the human realm, but some of us were. Our two
daughters were both adopted. But in the spiritual world, all
of God's children are adopted. And the wonderful thing is to
learn when were they adopted. We were adopted in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's a long, long, long time
ago. Don't be scared of Bible predestination. It simply means that God does
what he always intended and purposed to do. And when he says he's going to
do something, he always does it. Always. But can't we prevent it? Are
you joking? I'm just a little puny worm of
the earth, and you think I can frustrate the purpose of God?
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Now verse 6, and this concludes
the first sentence that started at verse 3. To the praise, all
of this conspires to the praise of the glory of God's grace. Now, we don't object to God being
praised because of the glorious grace that He's manifested to
us in Christ, do we? To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein, in that grace in Christ, God has made us accepted
in the Beloved. Accepted in Christ the Beloved. Second sentence, changing now
from the Father to the Son. In whom? The antecedent to whom is the
Beloved in verse 6, and that Beloved is none other than Christ.
We are accepted in Christ the Beloved. In whom? We have redemption
through his blood. the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of His grace, wherein God has abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure which He has purposed
in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times God
might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, in whom also,
in Christ also, we have obtained an inheritance being, ah, here's that word again,
being predestinated. You just can't get around it. If you're going to cut it out
of one of them, you just want to cut off the whole page and be done
with it. You'll have a Bible that looks like old Thomas Jefferson.
He cut every statement in his Bible out that could not be explained
by normal, everyday human ability. Anything miraculous, gone. He didn't have a whole lot of
Bible left, you understand. So if you go to tamper with this
word, predestinated, you might lose more of your Bible than
you'd expect. In whom also we have obtained
an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who works all things after the counsel of his own will, that
we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted
in Christ, period. Second period. Now the third
statement, verses 13 and 14, having to do with the Spirit
of God. In whom, in Christ, you also trusted after that you heard
the word of truth. In order for you and me to hear,
the Spirit of God must do a work of grace in our soul and give
us spiritual ears and spiritual eyes, or we won't ever hear and
we won't ever see. This is called being born again,
by the way, in whom you also trusted after that you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit
of promise. which or who is the earnest to
guarantee the surety of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory. Period. Three sentences. My, what sentences
they are. May we pray and beg the Lord's
help. Lord, how wonderful indeed this
portion of your word is to our souls. Oh, that you would give us, each
one of us, a saving interest in the Savior's blood. Read these words concerning salvation
by the triune God and to rejoice in every aspect as declared in
these verses. Lord, as we go over once again
this sacred round, would you not impart to our souls that
which we must have in order to be approved and accepted of you? You tell us the glorious secret
in this very passage. We must be accepted in the Beloved,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, may that be the case concerning
myself and each one of us, that we not miss Him, Him in whom
we have redemption through His blood, in whom we have the forgiveness
of sins, in whom we have all things necessary, both in time
and in eternity. Lord, help us. May we beg earnestly
for your blessing upon your Word. For if you do not speak, nothing that any man can say
can accomplish any eternal good. Help us from above. We beg to
the honor and glory of your name and of our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Amen. All right, taking now just verses
3 through 14, which shall probably prove to be more than we can
adequately cover, but I want you to see with me in these What
are the eleven verses? Is that correct? Something like
that? To see in these things why it
is that God saves sinners. And the second thing to see in
this passage is how He does this. How does God save sinners? Salvation is a work of the Holy
Trinity. Nothing could be more obvious
from this passage. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Plain and simple. No problem
whatsoever. Why does God save sinners? Because
it is His eternal purpose to do so. He has predestinated so
to do. God has forever. Now you know
when we say forever, never, never, you can never get to the end
of that. In old eternity or in the eternity to come. I understand
these are endless. These are endless. But you've
got to use human language to talk about these things or there's
no way to communicate. So I understand when we talk
about going back to the beginning, there is no such thing as going
back to the beginning. But whenever that was, however
long that's been, which is endless and timeless, it's before time,
God purposed to save sinners in Christ. He's always purposed that. Now
listen, this is important. God has always saved sinners
from the beginning of time until the present time and until the
end of time. God has always saved sinners
exactly the same way. The notion, the notion that God
somehow worked on a different basis in the Old Testament than
He does in the New, that's just plain foolish. This passage takes
us back to eternity past and shows us that God's purpose was
in Christ before the world began. We were given to Christ, adopted
in Christ, predestinated to that adoption in Christ, before man
was ever created, before there was such a place as the Garden
of Eden. Now, the second question that
I must speak to before we come back to these verses one by one
has to do with how does God save sinners? How? How? Now, our generation loves the
word how. You can go to the religious bookstore
and you can find a bunch of books in there and Here's one, if you
ever go in such a place, I want you to look for. I don't want
you to buy it necessarily. I'd be embarrassed if you did.
How to be Born Again. Nothing more foolish than the
title of that book. We have just as much to do with
our spiritual birth in Christ as we did our natural birth,
which means nothing at all. We are entirely passive. It is
God's work. It is ascribed in the New Testament
to the Holy Spirit of God in the work of what is called regeneration
or the new birth. But I still venture to use that
word how. How does God save sinners? Number
one, and that's the first sentence that takes us in verses three
through six How does God save sinners? By His own sovereign,
eternal purpose of grace. That's how He saves sinners.
How? By grace. And it's been His purpose
from the beginning. The second thing is, how does
God save sinners? He saves us by a legal, effectual,
blood sacrifice and blood atonement. Now you know, I know you've not
been living in a cave, I know you know this, but I want to
remind you of this. Today's religion tries to remove
blood from the worship of God. But if you have this book, you
cannot take what this book says and not talk about blood. I can
use just one phrase out of the book of Hebrews. that just sweeps
everything else out of the way. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. Sins cannot be remitted, cannot
be forgiven, cannot be taken away without the shed blood of
Christ. So we remove the blood at our
own peril. It simply means that we have
changed how God does business in saving sinners. He saves sinners,
first of all, by an eternal purpose of grace, secondly, by a blood
sacrifice and atonement, namely, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ
and His saving death. And the third thing in regard
to how does God save sinners, He saves sinners by the irresistible
power of His grace in the hand of God the Holy Spirit. That's covered in verses 13 and
14 in Ephesians chapter 1. Alright, back to verse 3. Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 3. Here's God's purpose condensed
into one statement and then broken down for us into another three
specific areas. God has blessed us. Who is us? In terms of the book
of Ephesians, it is Paul the Apostle and the saints at Ephesus. But you understand, when it talks
about them, it is talking about all believers. So it's talking
about all the other persons that were alive on the earth at that
time. who were also believers in our Lord Jesus Christ. And
down through the ages and generations it has moved until the present
hour. So that this us are those that have been made to belong
to God by His grace and mercy as it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those persons that were chosen
in old eternity through the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. God has blessed us. Here's what
I want you to see specifically now out of verse 3. God has blessed
us with all, A-L-L, all spiritual blessings in Christ, in the heavenlies. Let me put it another way to
make it unmistakable. God has nothing for a sinner
that when he gives him Christ, he gives him everything in Christ,
lock, stock, and barrel. People talk about a second blessing.
They talk about higher ground. They talk about walking on a
different plane. I'm telling you, in God's economy
of grace, we can't get any higher, any better, any safer, any more
holy than simply being in Christ. And if that ain't enough religion
for you, you've got to find something else. That's Christianity. Christ is Christianity. Everything God has for us is
in Christ. And then quickly in verses 4,
5, and 6, It says that God chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Now, do you have a problem with
that? I mean, God can do whatever God
wants to do, can't He? And if He does it, it must be
right, mustn't it? Then instead of letting this
stick in our craw, let's just rejoice. If we ever find out
That the only reason we choose Him is because He chose us first. We'll be tickled to death to
have this statement in our Bibles. And the purpose of that divine
choice is that we should be holy, H-O-L-Y, holy and without blame
before Him in love. in order for you and me to be
holy. Somebody's got to do something besides us. That's God. Choosing us in Christ. Blessing us in Christ. Predestinating us, in verse 5,
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Looks to me like
everything is Christ. And that's what this Bible is
all about. Christ is all. He's everything. Everything. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. I want you to please notice what
is not in these statements. What is missing. I know you think I'm just meddling,
but I'm trying to get you to see something. This is vitally
important. It ain't said a single word about
our will. You see? It just isn't there. It is not there. My soul, you mean God can do
this without my permission? That's a joke, isn't it? That's
laughable. Of course he can. I mean, my
goodness, he does. These things were done before
time ever started. According to the good pleasure
of his will. Now, you know we don't want our
will instead of God's will. I mean, if they're different,
If we've got any sense, we'd rather have His than ours. Oh, but God can't violate our
will. If He doesn't, you'll perish
and so will I. And He doesn't really violate
our will. But if you think your will is some kind of fortress
that God cannot enter and cannot change, You've got serious problems
about who God is and who I am and what mercy and grace is in
Christ. All right, verse 6 again. All
of this that God has done for us in Christ in old eternity
is said to be to the praise of the glory of His grace. No wonder
old John Lewton said Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that
saved a wretch like me. To the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein, in that grace which is in Christ, He has made
us accepted in the Beloved, that is, in Christ. Now, please notice one word in
verse 6. It is the word accepted. Now, when I was in school, and
I know that's been a long time ago, and I didn't listen too
well either, I'm sorry to say, but I think that accepted is
in the past tense. It's already done. It was done when Paul penned
these words. Accepted. Now, it doesn't say we're on
probation to be accepted. Now, you know, I know you know
this. The congregation at Ephesus is
just like this congregation. We're all perfect in Christ.
Everybody that's in Christ is perfect in Christ. But we've
still got a few little flaws here and there, don't we? Some
people might not even be so charitable as to call them slight. Now you don't think that everybody
at Ephesus was just always so nice and pleasant to be around. Let's see, how does that little
ditty go? It says, to live above with saints
we love, that will be glory. But to live below with saints
we know, well, that's another story. Now, don't forget this. All right, the second statement
begins at verse 7 and takes us through verse 12. And all of
this pertains, for the most part, to our Lord Jesus Christ. And
it has to do with the subject of redemption. And that redemption
is by His blood. All right, verse 7. In whom we have redemption. Now, not trying to be offensive,
but just making sure we see what's written in our Bibles. Redemption
is not a plan. Redemption is a person. And that person is Christ. This
little phrase keeps cropping up, in whom? In whom? That's in Christ. In Christ. Why does the Lord insist on this? Because all the crowns belong
on His head and not on mine. I'm telling you, today's religion
passes crowns around like they were just nothing. And the ones
they pass around are nothing. But the ones on the Savior's
head are there because He purchased them with His own blood. He merited
them. He earned them. They're His and
His forever. And if, when we get to glory,
we have what is called a crown of life, we'll even toss that
at His feet. Heaven won't be a place for us
to walk around like peacocks. Nobody that's there deserves
to be there. They're all there because of
Christ, in whom we have redemption through
His blood. And here the emphasis has to
do with the forgiveness of sins. How many sins did Christ put
away when He shed His blood on the tree? Way back in the 1600s, I think
it was, a fellow named John Owen in England was fighting the same
battle we are against misinterpretation of divine things and twisting
the scriptures and making them say things that they aren't.
But he basically had an analogy that went like this. If Christ
died for some of the sins of all men, none can be saved. If he died for all the sins of
all men, then every human being that's ever lived or will live
must be saved. And you know that ain't so. And
the third one is, if he died for all the sins of some men,
then all of those some men can't ever be anything else except
saved. They must be saved. So how many
sins? It talks about the forgiveness
of sins. How many sins did the blood of
Christ put away? He either put them all away,
every sin that you have, or He didn't put any of your sin away. And I can't tell you which it
is. You'll have to deal with God in that and His Word. But
I know this. If Christ only put my past sins
away and then I got to deal with the present or the future, it
doesn't matter whether he died or not. But this is a declaration of
victory. This is a declaration of accomplishment
in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. In that grace of God in Christ,
He has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of God's will according to His
good pleasure which He has purposed in Himself. That in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, God might gather together in one
all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
earth, even in Him. Now, you've all heard about Noah's
Ark. Mr. Black, were you there when—no,
I'm sorry, Jim, I'm sure you weren't. Now, just picture when that world of Noah's day was divided for all time and
all eternity based on one thing, and one thing only. Everything
that survived was in the ark. Noah's Ark is a type and picture
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this verse, in verse 10,
Ephesians chapter 1, that in the dispensation of the fullness
of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Christ. Now you don't have to be a genius
to figure this out. Everything that God has is in
His Son. All His people are given to His
Son. They're in Christ. Just like
Noah, those eight souls were in that ark. All other human
beings perished in that flood. were lifted up above that wrath
of God that was poured out on that generation. I'm telling
you, God's salvation, God's grace, God's mercy, God's peace is in
Christ and in Christ alone. And then we are told in verse
11, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
Now our inheritance is that Christ is the heir, and we are joint
heirs with him, and Christ is the inheritance, and our inheritance
is Christ. In whom also, verse 11, we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his
own will, being predestinated according to the purpose of God
who works all things after the counsel of His own will. Now,
why does God do it this way? That we should be to the praise
of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Every sinner that
trusts Christ, the praise all redounds to God. to the praise
of the glory of His grace. All right, verses 13 and 14.
In whom, speaking of Christ, in whom you also trusted after you heard the word of truth. Without hearing the gospel, no
man can believe and trust in Christ. We just covered that
ground last Sunday in Romans chapter 10. in whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth." Now, the word of truth is the
word about Christ. It's called the gospel. But it's
also something else that is here in this statement in verse 13. It is said to be the gospel of
your salvation. Not just the gospel of salvation.
but the gospel of your salvation. Listen, if you are saved, or if you ever
will be saved, salvation is already finished. We have no message. The gospel has no message to
a sinner to tell him, if you will do this, God will save you.
No, sir. No, sir. No, sir. If God saves
And he may, and I pray that he does. The work's already done. The gospel is not a message that
says to the sinner, do this and you shall live. The message of
the gospel is, it's done. Trust Christ alone. The work is already done. In whom, the middle of verse
13, in whom also, I meant to count these in whom's and I didn't
get it done. In whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. which is the earnest, the down
payment, the surety of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of God's glory. So the Holy Spirit
is the one that seals us, and we are said to be given him as
the earnest The down payment, the assurance, the surety that
what God has started, let's see, Philippians 1, 6, that what God
has begun, He will finish. He that has begun a good work
in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God,
please know this, God never tries to save sinners. He saves them. He doesn't try. He just does it. He just does it. I don't know if I've got enough
air or not, but let's change the last