After faithfully preaching the
gospel of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ for nearly 50
years, on the last day of his life in this world, April 6,
1827, Robert Hawker quoted a portion
of Ephesians chapter 1. Turn with me and look at it again. As he quoted it, laying on his
deathbed, he briefly explained these verses of scripture. Now
I don't really know what words he used, but I know exactly what
he said, so I'll give you a brief explanation. Blessed be the God,
there ain't but one. He's our God. Let his name be
eulogized and praised. the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, He who is God the Father, the Father of Christ,
our Mediator, the Father of the Eternal Son, who hath blessed
us, hath blessed us. I don't care
what men may conclude the theological ramifications to be. I heard
somebody say recently they were slandering what we preach and
believe about God's everlasting blessings and said that's primitive
doctrine. I don't care if it's Roman Catholic
doctrine or Buddhist doctrine, it's Bible doctrine. He hath
blessed us. Hath. One time, in the past,
from eternity, and he's not ever going to change his mind. He
hath blessed us. with all spiritual blessings. What all does that include? Well,
whatever you include in spiritual blessings, that's what it includes.
All spiritual blessings. He describes them for us in the
next verses specifically. All spiritual blessings, and
he's only blessed us one way, in one place, in Christ. according
as he has chosen us. Oh, thank God for free election. All his blessings flow to us
according to his eternal choice of us. Chosen us in Christ. The only way he ever does anything
for sinners is in Christ. Chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. before God ever said, let there
be light, and there was light. This was all done. That we should
be to the praise, I mean that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. He chose us to make us holy, not in the sight
of men, but before Him. And the holiness under which
he chose us is a holiness with which he blessed us among all
those spiritual blessings with which he hath blessed us in Christ
before the world began. This is that holiness we pursue. You say, well, that's a contradiction.
I don't care whether it's a contradiction or not. Follow peace with all
men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. You
must lay hold of and obtain the perfect holiness that God requires
of sinners in Jesus Christ the Lord or you will perish in your
sins. That we should be holy and without
blame before him. Now watch this. In love, having
predestinated us. Oh, predestination is a hard
doctrine. No, it's a good doctrine. He says right here, it's a loving
doctrine. Oh, you folks don't love each other. You all talk
about predestination. You don't love men. God said predestination
is a work of His love. In love, He predestinated us,
you and I who now believe Him, unto the adoption of children.
He predestined us to the full, glorious inheritance of the sons
of God. in heavenly glory by Jesus Christ
to Himself. Look at it. According to the good pleasure
of His will. I am constantly amazed that God Almighty should
choose me, that he should redeem me, that
he should call me among his sons, that he should make me his messenger. I'm amazed, more astonished now
than ever. Why? Can't but one answer be
given to that question. According to the good pleasure
of His will. So then it is not of Him that
willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Look at verse 6. To the praise
of the glory of His grace, He chose us according to His will,
To the praise of the glory of His grace, so that He might make
His grace appear to be amazing grace. So that He might, in saving
us, make His grace appear glorious. To the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein, that is in His grace, He hath made us such
things as are not fit to inhabit hell itself. Accept it. Isn't that good? Not acceptable,
accept it. Not, he will make us accept it. He hath back yonder in eternity
when he blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaven in Christ.
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. God Almighty accepts
us only in Christ. But blessed God, He does accept
us in Christ. He accepts what we give to Him
and do for Him only in Christ. But blessed be His name, He does
accept what we give for Him and do for Him in Christ Jesus, the
Beloved. In whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through his blood. Sinners redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for the satisfying of divine
justice at Calvary more than 2,000 years ago. We have redemption. We have it. It is our present
everlasting possession. What is this? The forgiveness
of sins. It is absurd beyond imagination
to talk about redemption without forgiveness or forgiveness without
redemption. Every redeemed sinner is fully
forgiven. Everlastingly forgiven. Forgiven
when redeemed. According to the riches of his
grace. Verse 8. Wherein? That is in
the riches of his grace. He hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence. In the riches of his grace, God
has been superabundant toward us in wisdom. Why did God choose to save sinners
and save us as He has? Why did God Almighty, rather
than preserving us as He did the angels who fell, make us
to be men and women of race who stood or fell before Him in a
substitute man, in a representative man called Adam? Why? Why? Why has God done things
the way He has? Because this is the wisest, most
prudent way for God to show the riches of His grace. That we
should be to the praise of the glory of His grace. Why does
God run this world the way He does? Because this is the wisest
way for it to be run. The most prudent way for it to
be run. He constantly abounds toward
us in all wisdom and prudence in grace. having made known to
us the mystery of his will to the ignorant and unbelieving
the will of God is a constant perplexity they simply can't
figure it out neither could you or I but God's made it known
to us in his word in the redemption of our souls by Jesus Christ.
He's made it known to us experimentally. I know what God's doing in this
world. I know what He's doing. I know what He's always done,
and I know what He's doing now, and I know what He's going to
do tomorrow. I don't have any question at all about it. None
whatsoever. I know exactly the meaning of
history, and every single event in history right down to the
batting of your eye. Everything. Well, Richard, no
man knows that. Well, let's see. Here it is,
according to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself.
God's accomplishing his good pleasure, and his good pleasure
is that good pleasure which he's purposed in himself. And here
it is, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, that
is, in that time when all time has been fulfilled, he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him. He's going to gather
together all his elect in Christ to the praise of the glory of
his grace. How do you know that's what it
means? Verse 11. In whom also We have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will. God's doing
his will to bring us into the glorious
inheritance called the glorious liberty of the sons of God which
we have already obtained according to his eternal blessing of us
in Christ Jesus. That inheritance that we've obtained
in Christ, God's working everything in time to bring us into the
possession and enjoyment of that inheritance experimentally in
everlasting glory. Now if you've got a problem with
that, you've got a problem. This is the purpose of God. This
is the explanation of providence. This is the declaration of God's
will at all times. And then when Hawker got to verse
12, that we should be to the praise of His glory who first
trusted in Christ, The old pastor paused and asked, who first trusted
in Christ? And then he made this answer,
it was God the Father who first trusted in Christ. My brother
Larry Brown read this last week, early last week, gave me a call.
Now Larry has been listening to about everything I preach
for a good long while, like you have. And he said, how come you
never told me who first trusted in Christ? And I thought, well,
if he hadn't heard it, maybe somebody else had. So let's talk
about it again. Who first trusted in Christ? Who first trusted in Christ? Now, actually, the word who is
in the plural. And that fact has led many good
commentators to object to that which I believe to be the true
interpretation of the text. They suggest that Paul's words
must have been a reflection of the fact that he had in mind
those Old Testament saints who believed on Christ, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and others, or those early Jewish believers,
or the apostles themselves. But Hawker's interpretation,
that which I've given to you repeatedly, is the only interpretation
that will fit into Paul's language in this context. I recognize
that the word translated who is in the plural. It's got to
refer to more than one person. Well, so Paul is saying, who
are these who first trusted in Christ? God, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. When you read covenant language
in Holy Scripture, Whenever you read of God the Father's part
as the representative in the covenant of grace and in the
work of grace given in Holy Scripture, God the Father is set before
us merely in human terms to give us some handle by which we can
get a hold of what he's talking about. He's set before us in
human terms as the spokesman and the representative of the
entire Godhead. Triune God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. You see, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, as they are one in eternal being,
so the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in the blessed
work of our salvation. Then whenever you read in the
scripture of Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
in covenant terms, he is always presented to us in the scripture
as the spokesman, the representative, the surety of his covenant people,
that is, of God's elect. Now this interpretation is even
more obvious when you understand the term that's used here, trusted. It's a perfect participle. Now
that's just fancy language to tell you it speaks of something
done in the past, finished, that never needs to be repeated. Who
first trusted in Christ. But the word that's used here
for trusted is used nowhere else in all the Bible. This is not
the word that's used. It is never used when it speaks
of our faith in Christ, our hope in Christ, or our trust in Christ.
It is only used here in Ephesians 1 verse 12. And really, it would
be more accurately translated like this. Trusted is a good
translation, but the word means who hoped beforehand in Christ. or who fore-hoped in Christ,
or who hoped in advance in Christ. So when the question is asked,
who first trusted in Christ, Paul's answer given in our text
is, the triune God for whose glory and by whose grace we are
saved in Christ. Nothing else will fit the context.
Remember, Paul was talking about the mystery of God's will. He's
talking here about God's eternal purpose of grace. He's talking
here about the inheritance we have obtained in Christ Jesus,
having already been blessed of God, accepted of God, and chosen
of God, redeemed before God, and right before God. The Apostle
tells us three times in these 14 verses that the purpose of
the triune God in the salvation of our souls and consequently
in everything he does is that we should be to the praise of
the glory of his grace. And one reason for that is because
it is he who first trusted in Christ. Now let me talk to you
for a minute about the covenant spoken of here. Turn if you will
to Jeremiah 31. We'll read the terms one more
time. Our heavenly father entered into
a covenant with his son on our behalf before the world began.
A covenant for the saving of our souls. Paul speaks of it
in Hebrews 13 as an everlasting covenant. Frequently it is spoken
of as a new covenant, not because it is something newly developed,
but because it is newly revealed. The first covenant, the new covenant,
is that covenant that was from eternity. The first covenant
revealed is that covenant that began in time when God made a
covenant with our father Adam. The new covenant is called a
new covenant because it is always new. just as new today as it
was before the Son ever rose for the first time. It is a new
covenant. It is called a covenant of peace
and a covenant of life. This covenant was made between
God the Father and God the Son, but it was made for us. It was made on our behalf. So,
Brother Don, do you really believe God actually, God the Father
and God the Son actually literally engaged in this language of a
covenant and literally this was done and that was done and the
other was done. No. No. No more than I believe
that God Almighty has a back. No more than I believe that God
has ears. Or that I believe that God has
lips. Or that God has a hand like this. What God Almighty
does when He uses human language to describe Himself or His work
is He's showing us the wonder of His work in a way that we
can begin to get some understanding of it. Now insofar as the benefits
of this covenant and the blessings of this covenant are concerned,
it is absolutely unconditional. The Lord God said, I will love
them freely. He said, I will be their God
and they shall be my people. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Look here in Jeremiah 31. This
everlasting covenant of grace is a sure covenant. It infallibly
secured and guaranteed the salvation of God's elect and all the blessings
of grace and salvation in Christ. Verse three, the Lord God hath
appeared of old unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Preacher, tell me why God saved
me. Because He loved you with everlasting love. Why is it somebody else isn't
saved? Time will tell. But if they perish yet under
the wrath of God, it is because they rebelled against Him. And
God has left him to themselves because he did not love them.
He said, Jacob have I loved, but he saw have I hated. Folks
want to fuss and fight with that? I quit fussing and fighting with
them. Fight with God. That's what he said. Look at
verse 31, Jeremiah 31. Behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. The Apostle Paul tells us in
Hebrews 8, 9, and 10 that this covenant is talking about that
covenant of grace by which we are saved in Christ Jesus. not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which my covenant they broke, although I was a
husband unto them, saith the Lord. I'm going to make a new
covenant with you, my true Israel, my true Judah. I'm going to make
a new covenant with you. But it ain't gonna be anything
like that covenant that I made with Israel on Mount Sinai. It
was a covenant of law and works. I said to them, do this. They
said to Moses, go back and tell God whatever He requires, we're
ready to do it. We can handle it. Anything He
demands of us. And no sooner had Moses come
down off the Mount from receiving the law till they had broken
it all together. He said they broke that covenant.
They would not stand. That covenant was but a reflection
of the covenant God made with Adam in the garden when God said,
In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And Adam
refused to obey God and plunge the race into damnation because
man cannot stand before God on a covenant of works. Man cannot
stand before God on the basis of his own righteousness. Not
even that righteousness with which Adam was made in the Garden
of Innocence. Our only hope of everlasting
life with God is righteousness given by another, even by God
himself, through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ
our Lord. Alright, read on, verse 33. But
this shall be the covenant. This is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days. Sayeth the
Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts. What's that talking
about? Folks say, well God, when a man's
saved he teaches him to live by the law. You go to any place
in history, at any spot in the world, and find any heathen running
around with a bone through his nose, naked as a jaybird, worshiping
a stump. He has a God consciousness, and
he knows certain things are right and wrong, because God's written
his law on his heart by creation. It's called conscience. What's
this talking about? I'll put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts. I'm going to make you
love me. I'm going to cause you to delight
in that which delights me. I'm going to make my will your
will. I'll put my law in their inward
parts. I'll write it on their hearts.
And when that happens, I will be their God. And they shall
be my people. It's called the new birth. And
they shall teach no more, every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know
me from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the
Lord. They won't need a mediator or a priest, and that day they'll
all have one, Christ Jesus the Lord. And they shall be kings
and priests unto God in him. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sin no more. Chapter 32 of Jeremiah. God continues to describe his
covenant. Verse 38. And they shall be my
people, and I will be their God. Don't you love God's shalls and
wills? They shall be my people, and
I will be their God. But what if? They shall be my
people, and I will be their God. But what if they're not willing?
They're not. They shall be my people, and I will be their God,
for they shall be willing in the day of my power. But what
if they're under the spell of Satan? That's alright. They shall
be my people, and I will be their God. I'll cast Satan out. But
what if they're raised in the most remote corners of the earth
where no light of grace and truth ever shines? That's all right.
I'll send my word and cause the light to shine. They shall be
my people and I will be their God. Read on. And I will give
them one heart and one way. I'll write my law in their hearts.
Put it in their inward parts. I'll give them one way. This
is the way. Walk ye in it. One way. I am
the way. One way. These are the people
of the way. Just one way. That they may fear
me forever. That they may worship me forever. That they may reverence and honor
me forever. For the good of them. This is
what I'm doing for their good. And for their children after
them. Oh, that's a promise to our sons and daughters. Yes and no. Not to our sons and
daughters after the flesh. No, no. Grace doesn't come by
flesh and blood. You young people, you boys and
girls, your mom and dad believe God. That doesn't make you Christians.
And that doesn't give you one step up toward God. And that
doesn't mean God's going to be gracious to you. No, sir. No, sir. Our sons and daughters
are the sons and daughters of His church. The Jerusalem which
is above the mother of us all. And I will make, I will establish
to them an everlasting covenant with them. Now watch this. Oh, rejoice my heart. I will not
turn away from them to do them good. It will never happen. What if Adam falls? I won't turn
away from them to do them good. What if they come forth from
the womb speaking lies? I won't turn away from them to
do them good. What if they're born rebels to rebel moms and
dads? I will not turn away from them
to do them good. What if rather than being raised
in a fine home with a fine family in the finest of surroundings,
they're raised on the streets by barbarians like themselves?
I will not turn away from them to do them good. What if they
wreck their lives? I will not turn away from them
to do them good. But after I've called them by
my grace, what if they're foolish? They are. I will not turn away
from them to do them good. I will not. Watch this. But I
will put my fear in their hearts. I'll teach them to trust me,
to worship me, to reverence me. that they shall not depart from
me. We would if we could. Every blessed one of us, if we
could. Other men, other women, many
have. But they shall not. Peter tried, didn't he? He cussed and denied the Savior
three times. And he said when he heard the
cock crow in the morning, boys, it's over with me. I never knew
anything about this grace of God. I never knew anything about
faith in Christ. I'm going back where I was when
I first met Him. I'm going back to my fishing
boats. But God said, I will not turn away from them to do them
good, that they shall not depart from me. It won't happen. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. Now let me tell you why you're
still here. If God's given you faith in Christ,
why you still believe Him, your faith may Be at a low ebb and
your heart heavy because you've been trying to depart from Him.
Doing everything you could to destroy your own soul. Because God said from eternity,
they shall not depart from Me. Not going to happen. Not going
to happen. Well, you talk, that takes all
responsibility off of me. No, no, no. You're responsible
to persevere. He that endureth to the end shall
be saved. Nobody else shall. Nobody else
shall. But I'm telling you, if by God's
grace you endure, it's because God from eternity said, they
shall not depart from me. No wonder. When old brother David
was laying on his deathbed and looks back over the span
of a lifetime. And he sees Michael, his wife. What pain. What bitterness. And he remembers
Edmund. What a disappointment. Absalom,
what a heartbreak. Got a house full of rebels. Looks like the only people in
his house who appear to know God is that one boy named Solomon,
the child of an adulterous union. and that woman David took in
an adulterous affair Bathsheba and Abigail who sent out by God
to keep him from evil because of David's sin judgment
comes on Israel because of David's sin so much pain and heartache But he looks back over the span
of a lifetime and remembers, goodness and mercy have followed
me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. And he sings, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things ensure, for this is all my salvation. and all my desire. Now I have
said that on our part, all the blessings and benefits of God's
covenant grace were absolutely free, unconditionally sure. But there was a condition. A
condition had to be met. God Almighty could not and would
not bestow His blessings upon us. He could not and would not
accept us. He could not and would not receive
us, make us just before Him, except upon the grounds that
His own name is honored. And the grounds and the stipulation
and the terms and conditions of the covenant were laid upon
the shoulders of Christ our surety. who stood in our room instead
before God our Father who trusted Him with our souls. Now there was never any danger
that the condition of the covenant wouldn't be met. Never any danger
that the stipulation wouldn't be met. Because the fact is They
were met on the spot. Christ said, I will lay down
my life for the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
will redeem my people. And I will bring them and set
them before you, and spread them out as trophies and monuments
of grace, saying, Lo, I and the children which the Lord God hath
given me, not one of them is lost." Here they are. Father,
your name is glorified. And the Father struck hands with
the Son as our surety, trusting to Him our everlasting salvation. the glory of his great name and
the accomplishment of all his purpose in the universe as the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world and he turned the
whole thing over to him. He said here it is son, you rule
it all as the representative covenant surety of your people.
I give you dominion and power as the mediator, as the lamb
slain, as that one who by yourself has brought in everlasting redemption
and everlasting righteousness, I give you all things into your
hand for the saving of my people to the glory of my name. And
the son said, I'll do it. And it was done. It was done. Look at John chapter 6. Let me
show you. Verse 37. All that the Father giveth me. See the present tense. He's talking
about what God's doing right now in time. He's calling out
His elect by the preaching of the gospel. Brother Brian Edwards, I've known
him for 20 some years. He's attended church in Alamont,
Michigan for 30 years or better. Better than 30 years. Been sitting
there listening to the gospel of God's free grace. Brother
Jim, been preaching to him all this time. Sunday before conference,
Jim preached on the subject of redemption. They sang, Redeemed How I Love
to Proclaim It, Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb. And Brian
just stood there in silence. Monday morning he called Brother
Jim and said, Brother Jim, when we stood to sing last night,
Redeemed How I Love to Proclaim It, Redeemed by the Blood of
the Lamb, Redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and
forever I am. I just could not sing that hymn
again. Because I don't know anything
about being redeemed. But before I went to bed last
night, God gave me faith in Christ. And I've been singing redeemed
how I love to proclaim it all night long. I want to tell you
about it. God Almighty giveth me. Giveth. When God saves a sinner
by his grace, this is what he does. He's giving you to Christ. He's giving you to Christ. They
shall be mine. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. They shall be mine. Read on.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Well, Brother Don, I don't know
whether he'll accept me or not. Well, let's come and see. Him
that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven not to do mine own will. But isn't this His
will too? Yes, it's His will. Father, I
will that they also whom Thou hast given me be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory. But He comes here and
says, I'm here not representing myself. I'm here as a covenant
surety, as a servant to Jehovah to do His will. Not to do mine
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will which has sent me. Now watch this. that of all
which He hath given me." What? Wonder which one's right. Both are right. Those whom the
Father gives to the Son in time, in conversion, He gave to the
Son in eternity. Hath from eternity given me,
and hath trust into my hands. This is His will, that I should
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.
Therefore our Lord Jesus spoke of all his sheep as being his
sheep. His sheep, which he must bring into the fold, and he spoke
of them as being his sheep long before many of them were born.
He said of the sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall
be one fold and one shepherd. When our Lord Jesus, turn to
John 17, when our Lord Jesus finished his great work of redemption,
He comes to the Father, and He begins to praise our High Priest.
These words spake Jesus when He lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy
Son also may glorify Thee, as Thou hast given Him power, authority,
dominion, the right to rule and dispose of all flesh. for this
purpose, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. And this is life eternal, that
they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. He says, Father,
now I ask you to give me When He had by Himself purged
our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. Is that what the book says? Wherefore, God also hath highly
exalted Him, giving Him a name above all names, that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Thou hast put
all things under His feet. Thou hast given Him dominion
over all flesh. But watch this. He said, now
Father, the glory I'm asking for is the glory I had with you
before the world was. God Almighty looked on him as
our surety, having finished his work from the foundation of the
world, and gave him this glory. Now watch the next line in Ephesians
1 and verse 13. In whom you also trusted. At the appointed time of mercy
and grace and love, every chosen redeemed sinner is born again
and called by the irresistible power and grace of God the Holy
Spirit through the word of the truth, and is given faith in
Christ to trust Him, upon whom the Father laid all responsibility
for our souls as our surety. the surety of the everlasting
covenant.