Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message for
this morning to the praise of His glory. We're looking at Ephesians
chapter one. In this chapter, Paul gives us
all three persons of the Godhead and their work in salvation.
God is one God in three distinct persons. God the Father, God
the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Do I understand that? Of course
not. Do I believe that with all my
heart? God has revealed this concerning
Himself in His Word, and all three persons of the Godhead
have their work in the salvation of the sinner, as we're going
to see in Ephesians chapter 1 God the Father elects, God the Son
redeems, and God the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life, the new
birth. Now, what I want us to notice
is what Paul says at the conclusion of giving the work of each one
of the persons of the Godhead. He's talking about the Father
in verse six, and it says, we are saved to the praise of the
glory of His grace. And then it says of the Son,
that we should be to the praise of His glory. And then, with regard to the
work of God the Holy Spirit, we read in verse 14 of Ephesians
chapter 1, under the praise of His glory. And that could well
be said to be the theme of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians
is really unlike the other epistles. Somebody once said it's the most
sublime of all the epistles of Paul. And I wouldn't argue that
Paul deals with things in Ephesians that he doesn't deal with in
the other chapters. But let's begin reading in verse
one. of Ephesians chapter 1, Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Paul didn't apply for this job.
Paul didn't go to seminary in order to be qualified for this
job. God willed him to be an apostle, and that is why he was
an apostle. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, to the saints, every believer is a saint, a
holy one is what the word means, which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus. Every saint believes Christ. They are the faithful in Christ
Jesus. Now Paul says to these saints,
and this is said to every believer, grace be to you. Oh, I want the grace of God.
It's God giving me what I do not deserve in any form or any
fashion. I want the grace of God. Grace be to you and peace. from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the only thing that gives
me peace is if salvation is all of grace. And if it's all of
grace, I have peace. Now he says in verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen
to the wording, who hath, blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. Now, this God, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Spirit, first speaking of God, it says,
He hath blessed us. Now, the us is every believer. He has not blessed all men indiscriminately. He's blessed the believer for
Christ's sake. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Now notice the language, spiritual
blessings. You know, when men think of blessings,
they generally think of material blessings or physical blessings
or circumstantial blessings. I have health. I have wealth
and prosperity. My circumstances are good. Well,
I'm glad they are, but that's not necessarily indicative of
the blessing of God. You may be under the curse of
God and have all those things. The true blessings of God are
spiritual blessings. And every believer has all of
them. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. That means we
have them. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. And this is where we're introduced
to this term in Christ. It's going to be used 11 times
in the next 11 verses. And it's one of the keys to understanding
the Bible. Everything God has for the sinner
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son, God the
Father said, in whom I am well pleased. Not with whom I am well
pleased, although he was well pleased with him, but in whom.
You see, he is well pleased with everybody in him, and all God
has for the sinner is in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the next verses, he's
going to be enumerating these blessings, these spiritual blessings
that are in Christ Jesus. And the first one he mentions
is election. Verse four, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now, there has been much
debate over the centuries with regard to the holy doctrine of
election, but there's one sector that does not debate election,
the elect. Not one of them debates or has
any problem at all with this glorious truth that God chose
who would be saved. Now, look what it says. Who chose
who? He chose us. Not we chose Him. He chose us. When was this choice
made? Was it when you believed? "...according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world."
Before there was anything created, God chose His people. Well, how was this choice made?
according as he hath chosen us in him, in him. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then he chose us in him, our living head. in Him. Why? To the praise of the glory
of His grace. It's what Paul calls in Romans
11 and 5, the election of grace. Now please listen carefully. There's nothing hard to understand
about election. People call it deep theology. There's nothing deep about it.
It's just so. God chose His people. There's nothing hard to understand
about that. It's the election of grace. And if I don't love
election, it's because I do not love the God of election and
the salvation that's all of grace. And like I said, I'll tell you
who loves election, the elect. Every single one of them. The
natural man might bark against it and come up with all kinds
of objections, but not God's elect. They know they would not
be saved had not God chosen them. And look what this choice is
unto. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. What a spiritual blessing
to be holy and to be without blame before Him so that God
looks at me and He sees one who is holy and one who is without
blame. And God sees things as they really
are. And if God sees me as holy and
without blame, there's one reason I'm holy and without blame. And
that's because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in my behalf. He put away my sin and he made
me holy. That is the work of God the Father. Now, look what it says in verses
four and five. In love, having predestinated
us, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. In love goes with predestination,
in love having predestinated us. Now listen to this, predestination
is nothing less than God being God. A God And I say a small
god, small g-god, a god that is not the god of absolute predestination,
is a non-existent entity. It's an idol made by man's depraved
imagination, a false idea of God. A God not worthy of the
name God, a God not worthy of worship. God, the living God,
the God of the Bible, is the God of absolute predestination. Predestination is God being God.
Somebody says, I don't believe in predestination. I do. And
I love predestination because I love the God of predestination.
And look at this thing of predestination having predestinated us. Now,
predestination has to do with people, not just events. Well, God predestinated that
to take place. Well, I suppose he did in some,
he did, but that's not what predestination's about. It's about people being
predetermined to be just like Christ. having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. And
here's his reason, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved." Now, that word, made us accepted,
is only used one other time in the scripture, and it's used
with regard to Mary, where the angel said, thou art highly favored. Same word. If I'm accepted in
the beloved, I am highly favored in the beloved. I'm much graced
in the Beloved. And this is true with regard
to every believer just as much as it was true with regard to
Mary, the mother of the Lord. You are highly favored to the
praise of the glory of His grace. Now, I know this. In my salvation,
He gets all the glory because He did it all. Now let's go on reading. Now
he talks about the Son. He says in verse seven, in whom,
now the Son is the Beloved. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. In whom? The Beloved, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His
grace. In Christ, we have redemption. And he tells us exactly what
redemption is, the forgiveness of sins. Now, here is my greatest
need for my sins to be forgiven. I have no hope. if God doesn't
forgive me of my sins. I've heard people say, well,
you need to learn how to forgive yourself. You know, that's ridiculous. I need God to forgive me. If
I forgive myself, what good's it gonna do me if God doesn't
forgive me? What is the forgiveness of sins? Now, if you sin against
me, I hope by the grace of God I forgive you. But there's one
thing I will not do, I won't forget it. I wish I would. I wish I could. But if you sin
against me, I will remember what you've done. And no son of Adam
is capable of completely forgetting when a wrong has done them. But
that's not the way the Lord forgives. He says, I'll be merciful to
their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities. I
will remember no more. Now, God has a very good memory.
The reason he doesn't remember the sins of the believer is there's
nothing there to remember because Christ redeemed me. He put away my sins. He made them not to be. So I
stand before God without guilt in whom we have sinned. redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches."
Oh, the riches. No way to estimate the value of
the riches of His grace, according to the riches of His grace, wherein
He hath abounded toward us. Now, what does that word abounded
mean? How does grace abound? Well,
Paul put it this way in Romans 5, 20 and 21. Moreover, the law
entered, the 10 commandments, that the offense might abound. Now, if you have any understanding
of the law, you find out that you're a place where the offense
abounds, where all you do is sin. But where sin abounded,
everywhere where you find that sin abounds, grace did much more
abound. That as sin has reigned unto
death, what can you do to prevent death? Nothing. that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign. What can you do
to mess up or prevent grace? Nothing. And it reigns through
righteousness, the righteousness of Christ. It's a righteous grace
unto eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ our Lord. He abounded toward us in the
riches of His grace, in all wisdom and prudence, His wisdom in making
a way to be just and justify somebody like me through Christ. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will, Now, this is what God has made known to
every believer, the mystery. Mystery, don't miss that. This
is a mystery. It's something we would have
never known had not God been pleased to make it known. He's
made known to us, He's revealed to us the mystery of His will
according to His good pleasure, which He hath purposed in Himself. Now, what's He talking about,
having made known to us the mystery of His will? Somebody says, well,
I understand God's will for my life. Well, if you're talking
about events and what you're going to do tomorrow and what
you're going to do in the next hour, no, you don't. You say
that, but you don't. You might be dead in two seconds. You boast not thyself of tomorrow
for thou knowest not what it may bring forth. You don't know
God's will in that sense. Well, I believe it's God's will
for me to take this job or to move to this place or to, you
don't know any of that. I mean, you ask the Lord to give
you direction, but anytime somebody says, I know this is God's will
for me, I think, no, you don't. I mean, you'll find out after
the fact, but you don't know now. What Paul is talking about
is not knowing what God's will for me to do in the next moment.
It's knowing his will of redemption. Ananias said to Paul, the God
of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will. In John chapter 6, verse 38,
the Lord said, I came down from heaven not to do my own will,
but the will of him that sent me. And this is the will of him
that sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing. I know it's the will of God for
everybody that Jesus Christ died for to be saved. I know His will of redemption. Verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one
all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are on earth,
even in Him. This is God's eternal purpose.
in whom also the Lord Jesus Christ we have obtained an inheritance."
Joint heirs with Christ. This is true with regard to every
believer. "...that he might gather together in one, 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, That's God's motive. He wills to do it. No
reason is found outside of Himself. Whatever He does, He does according
to the counsel of His own will. Now look in verse 12, that we
should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now what's that talking about?
We should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in
Christ. Who was the first one to trust
in Christ? God the Father. You see, Christ is called in
Hebrews 7.22, the surety of a better testament. The surety, the guarantee
of a better testament. Now, before time began, Christ
stood as a surety for all of those the Father gave Him. He
took full responsibility for their salvation, and the Father
trusted Him to do so. Now, we're given a beautiful
illustration of this in the book of Genesis. was Jacob's favorite. He thought
Joseph was dead. And now Benjamin was the son
of his love, his favorite. And in order for them to get
food, Benjamin would have to go to Egypt with the brothers
to get the food. And Reuben says to Jacob, I'll
take him. You let the responsibility fall
on me. And if I don't bring him back,
you can kill my two boys." What kind of person do you think
Jacob was? Oh, if I don't do it, I'm going to kill my grandsons
now? You see, Jacob knew Reuben. As a matter of fact, in another
place, it said, unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. He said,
I'm not sending him with you. I don't trust you. I don't trust
you to bring him back. You're unstable. Not going to
do it. Well, Judah steps up. Judah. Of what tribe did Christ
come from? Judah. This is to typify the
Lord Jesus Christ. Judah comes up and stands before
Jacob. And what does Judah say? He said to his father, I will
be surety for him. Of mine hand shalt thou require
of him. If I bring him not back to thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. You know what Jacob did? He trusted
Judah to do the job. Now, Christ Jesus, before time
began, said, of my hand shall you require of every one of these
people you're giving me. All of the elect, every individual
believer, of my hand shalt thou require of him, of my hand. I'll be surety for him. If I
bring him not back to heaven with me, having saved him, then
let me bear the blame forever. And God the Father trusted him
to do this." Isn't that beautiful? Christ is the surety, that we
should be to the praise of His glory. And who gets all the glory
in our salvation? Jesus Christ does. That we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ.
God the Father was the first one to trust Him. Verse 13, in
whom? The Lord Jesus, in whom you also
trusted, after that you heard the word of truth." Not before
you heard the word of truth. You can't believe what you've
never heard. You can't trust someone you don't know. In whom
you also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation. You know what happens when you
hear the word of the truth? You find out you're saved. You find
out God has saved you. You hear the gospel, the good
news of your salvation. You know, when I hear people
say, I got saved, I just cringe. That's not the way to speak of
salvation. I get a cold. I catch a cold. But the Lord
saved me." I didn't get salvation. The Lord saved me, in whom also
after he believed, or having believed, you were sealed, you
were authenticated, you were made real. with the Holy Spirit
of promise." This is talking about the new birth. The Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest, the down payment of
our inheritance. Having the Holy Spirit, I've
got the down payment of this eternal inheritance. Until the
redemption of the purchased possession, That's what every believer is,
purchased by Christ, God's possession, unto the praise of His glory,
unto the praise of the glory of the Holy Spirit. Now, to the
praise of His glory, it's all His. God the Father, God the
Son, God the Holy Spirit, He did it all. I love it that it's
that way, because if he didn't do it all, that means salvation
is in some way dependent upon me. If I'm gonna get the glory
for something, that means something's dependent on me to do, and that's
something I don't want. I want him to do it all, because
if there's anything for me to do, I don't have any hope. I
know where that'll go. And listen to this scripture.
John 17, verse 22. The glory thou hast given me I have given them." That glory
that the Lord possesses all by Himself, He gives it to His people
so that even now every believer, according to Romans 8, verse
30, is glorified. Oh, to the praise of His glory. What does that mean to you? Well,
to a believer, that means everything. An unbeliever can't understand
it. It's an uninteresting subject to an unbeliever. But to a believer,
it is everything. We have this message on CD, DVD. If you call the church, write,
or look on our webpage to get the message, we'll send you a
copy. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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