That was a blessing. I don't
know of a scripture that I enjoy more than you are complete in
Him. I like that, don't you? Would
you turn back to the book of Ephesians? And while you're turning there,
tonight I'm going to be speaking out of Acts chapter 21 on a very
interesting passage where James tells Paul to take the vow of
a Nazarite. And included in that vow is a
blood sacrifice. And Paul agrees to do it. And the Lord has him arrested
before that can take place. I've entitled the message, Paul
and James. I want to attempt TO BRING A
MESSAGE THIS MORNING ON THE MESSAGE OF EPHESIANS. WHAT IS THE MESSAGE OF EPHESIANS? I HEARD ONE MAN SAY THAT PAUL'S
LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS IS THE MOST SUBLIME of all the epistles. I like that. In this letter, the whole Bible,
the eternal purpose of God is distilled into this one relatively
short epistle. And these three words are used
like they are in no other epistle. the word glory, the word mystery, and the word
riches. These words are used over and
over in this epistle like they are in no other epistle. Glory, mystery, and riches. Now look over in Ephesians chapter
three. Paul is telling them how he knew
what he knew in presenting them with this letter. Verse one,
for this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. You know, Paul
was writing from a Roman prison cell. And he doesn't say a prisoner
of Rome. He says, a prisoner of Jesus
Christ. For you Gentiles, if you've heard
of the dispensation, the stewardship of the grace of God, which is
given me to you, Lord, for your sakes, have it by revelation,
he made known unto me the mystery as i wrote a four and a few words
whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of christ god in christ brought paul into heaven and
their taught him mystery of the gospel and he said i'm to bring
this message to you now in this book in the first chapter we're
given God's eternal purpose for His church. In the second chapter,
we have the most glorious declaration of the grace of God. In the third
chapter, we're given Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, how they might
know the length and breadth and depth and height TO KNOW THE
LOVE OF CHRIST, WHICH PASSES KNOWLEDGE. IN CHAPTER FOUR, HE
SPEAKS OF THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT AND THE UNITY OF THE FAITH. IN CHAPTER FIVE, HE GIVES THAT
GREAT CHAPTER WITH REGARD TO THE CHURCH BEING THE BRIDE OF
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND IN CHAPTER SIX, HE GIVES
THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD. BUT IN THIS FIRST CHAPTER, There's not a higher place in
all the Word of God than this. And truly, the place we're standing
is holy ground, as we consider what is said in this first chapter
with regard to the glorious person and work of God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in our salvation. And one of
the things I love about this is Paul doesn't stoop to debate. He doesn't stoop to argue. He simply declares the gospel. Now in this first chapter, he's
dealing with the work of all three persons of the Trinity
in the salvation of the sinner. The Father elects The Son redeems
and the Holy Spirit seals. And in this we have the work
of God in salvation. And I've already read how He
summarized the work of the Father in verse six, to the praise of
the glory of His grace. And then, in verse 12, that we
should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. And verse 14, unto the praise
of His glory, unto the praise of the glory of the Father, unto
the praise of the glory of the Son, and unto the praise of the
glory of the Spirit of God. That could well be the theme
of this entire book, and certainly of this first chapter, the praise
of his glory. Now, what does that mean to you?
I was thinking about this. That means nothing to the natural
man. He could care less about the glory of God. But to the
believer, everyone in his temple speaketh of his glory. Now, let's
start in verse one of Ephesians chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God. Now here's his authority. He
is in this position as an apostle taught by God by the will of
God. That's where the authority comes
from. He doesn't tell us where he got his credentials from,
what seminary he went to or anything like that. He said, this is by
the will of God, and here's who he's writing to, to the saints,
the holy ones, which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus, grace be to you and peace. Now, salvation is by grace. If
God gives his grace to me, you know what I have? Peace. Peace. the peace of God that
passes understanding. Grace be to you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed, verse three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
Now, the first thing I'd like to point out about that, notice
he says, with all spiritual blessings. Do you know the only kind of
blessings there are are spiritual blessings? Now, most people,
when they think of blessings, they think, well, I have health,
I've got wealth, I am relatively free of trials, got a good life.
That may be a curse. And the only blessing there is,
is a spiritual blessing. And notice what he says in verse
three, who hath blessed us When people say, bless you, they
can't do that. Only God can bless. He is the blessed one. I've realized
people may mean well when they say that, but there's only one
who blesses, the blesser himself. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. How many spiritual
blessings do we have? All. He hath blessed us. You know
what that means? We've got him. We've got him. This is true of
every believer. Every blessing God has to give You possess. Write down, and they are in the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is where we're introduced
to this glorious phrase, in Christ. And in the next verses three
through 14, 11 times this phrase is used, in
Christ, in Christ. Christ and that lets us know
that everything God has for the sinner is in the Lord Jesus Christ
and Every believer has every one of these blessings Now the
first blessing mentioned Verse 4 According as he chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him." Now, the first blessing He mentions in You know, there's been much debate
over the centuries with regard to this holy doctrine, but I
know of one sector that doesn't debate this doctrine, the elect.
They all, without exception, love election. He chose me. When did he make this choice?
Before the foundation of the world. How? In Christ. Why? To the praise of the glory
of His grace. If I do not believe and love
election, It is because I do not believe and love the God
of election. I'll tell you who loves the election,
the elect. Now, here is the end and outcome
of election and what a spiritual blessing this is. 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, here's the end of
the lecture. It says, Todd Nybert, and put
your name in there if you're a believer. Here's God's will,
and His will's always done. You're holy. Someone says, I
don't feel holy. Well, I don't either, but I am
holy. I am holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my holiness. I am holy. I should be holy because he purposed
it. And I am without blame. Without
blame, God looks at every believer. There's no skeletons in their
closet. No sins to be brought up. They are without blame. Now, I guess you could call this
both the positive and negative side of election. If there is
such a thing, the positive, they should be holy. The negative,
they don't have anything to be blamed for. They're both positive
to me, though. But this is the description of
every single believer without exception. When God sees you,
he sees a holy one. Do you hear that? And how God
sees is the way it is. He sees a holy one without blame. Verse four and five, in love,
having predestinated us, unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself. Now that love goes with predestination,
whom he did foreknow. That means for love. Whom he did for love. Then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son. Predestination, listen
real carefully, predestination. nothing less than God being God. A God that is not the God of
absolute predestination. That means everything has been
predetermined, but what it really means is who has been predetermined. Not what, but who. A God that is not the God of
absolute predestination is a non-existent God, a figment of man's depraved
imagination, not worthy of the name of God and not worthy of
worship. Oh, how we love the God of absolute
predestination. This is not a point of debate. This is not a fine, distinct
point of theology. This is who God is. Whom he did predestinate, then
he also whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son." Now notice what
it says with regard to predestination, verse five. Predestination is
beyond debate. Somebody says, I don't believe
in predestination. I don't believe you. This is who God is. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself." You can't
separate anything from Christ, can you? By Jesus Christ. According to the good pleasure
of His will. That's why He does things. The
good pleasure of His will. You know, I'm so fine with that.
Even so father for so it seemed good in my sight. This is why
he does it It's according to the good pleasure of his will
what he called in Ephesians 3 11 the eternal purpose Which he
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace." Now, that is why He does what He does, to the
praise of the glory of His grace. Now, if you're a believer, you
know beyond the shadow of a doubt that your salvation glorifies
His grace. It doesn't glorify you, it glorifies
His grace. And I love the last phrase of
verse six, wherein He hath made us accepted. in the Beloved." There we have
that phrase again, in the Beloved. He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved. You know, that word is used one
other time in the Scripture. When the angel said to Mary,
Behold, thou art highly favored. Do you know that if you're a
believer, You are just as highly favored by God as Mary was. He hath made us highly favored
in the Beloved. All of God's salvation, all of
God's acceptance, all of God's favor, all of God's grace is
in the Beloved. I'm accepted. I'm accepted by God. I'm received
by God. I'm highly favored by God. Can you see why this man said
that Ephesians is the most sublime of the epistles? I see that.
I mean, he speaks of things in Ephesians that he doesn't speak
of in other epistles. I'm so thankful for this Epistle
Now look what he says in verse 7. He's been talking about the
work of the father Now he goes to the work of the son in verse
7 In whom in whom in the beloved In whom we have Redemption through
his blood even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches,"
there's that word again, the riches, of His grace. Now, in the Beloved, we have
redemption, and here's what that means, the forgiveness of sins. And don't forget this about God's
forgiveness. I'm ashamed of myself in that
I forgive, but I remember And you do, too. Somebody says, well,
I don't remember that. Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. And
Joseph did. He forgave his brothers, but
he said, I'm Joseph. I can't remember what you guys
did. No, whom you sold into Egypt. He knew exactly what they did.
He didn't forget it, but he forgave them. But the Lord doesn't forgive
that way. He says their sins, And their
iniquities will I remember no more." And there's only one reason
why He does not remember them. There is absolutely nothing to
remember. They're purged away. They're
gone by the blood, the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, when I hear preachers talk about how believers are
going to have to give an account for their sins on judgment day
and that's how they're going to be rewarded, some are going
to be up here and some down there, you know, I want to spit when
I hear that. That's ridiculous. That's offensive. That puts man
in the forefront. That's not what his blood did.
His blood made it to where I have no sin. There's a record in heaven
about Todd Nybert. He never sinned. Isn't that wonderful? In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
Oh, the riches of His grace. And this is one of five times
we read of riches. We read of the riches of His
grace, the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
the exceeding riches of His grace, the unsearchable riches of Christ. riches of His glory." Now, I
was thinking about this thing of riches, and I thought of that
song that was in Fiddler on the Roof. You remember, have y'all
ever heard the song, If I Were a Rich Man? Y'all have heard
that song. I am a rich man. I don't have to talk about if
I were a rich man. Oh, I am a rich man according to the riches of
His grace. Verse 8, wherein in the riches of his
grace he hath abounded toward us." Now, I love that word, don't
you? What's that mean? We'll turn
to Romans 5. We looked at this recently, but let me read it
again because this gives us some idea of the abounding grace of
God. Verse 20 of Romans chapter 5,
moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound." Now, if you ever, and if I ever understand anything
about the law of God, there's only one thing it does. It makes
the offense abound. I'm talking about personally,
too. I'm not talking about, well, I see so-and-so, it abounds in
them. No, it abounds in me. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. And if you have any understanding of the law, you see the offense
abounds. But where sin abounded. Now this is the only place. It
doesn't say where sin wasn't all that bad. It says where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Are you a place where
sin abounds? Well, you're a place where grace
much more abounds. That's the abounding that he's
talking about in Ephesians chapter one, wherein he hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Oh, the wisdom of God in our
salvation. He's made a way in his glorious
wisdom to be absolutely just, inflexibly just. and yet justify
somebody as sinful as me. What wisdom, what prudence. Verse nine, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, we would never have known it
had he not made it known. Having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. Now, I think of what Ananias
said to Paul on the road to Damascus, and this is said to every single
believer. Listen to this. The God of our fathers hath chosen
thee, that thou mightest know his will. Now, What is this thing
of knowing his will? Well, I know it's God's will
for me to go to do this. That doesn't have anything to
do with the knowledge of his will, because you don't know what's going to happen in
the next five seconds. You might go, it's God's will. I've had
people say, I know it's God's will for me to do this. I'm thinking,
no, you don't. I mean, you say you do, and I
guess it sounds good, but you don't know. You might be dead
in two seconds. Was God wrong? Of course not.
This is not talking about knowing his will of, I know I need to
do this or do that. What this is talking about is
what the Lord said. This is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. I know God's
will. It's God's will that everybody
Jesus Christ died for be saved. I know that. And I know if I'm
in Christ, I must be saved. This is the will of God that
we know, that thou mightest know his will. See that just one,
there's just one, just one, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And hear the voice of his mouth, for thou shalt be his witness
unto all men of what you've seen and what you've heard. HAVING MADE KNOWN UNTO US, VERSE
9, THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, AND HERE'S WHY HE DID THIS, ACCORDING
TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE WHICH HE PURPOSED IN HIMSELF. THAT'S WHY
HE DID IT. ARE YOU FINE WITH THAT? SOMEONE
SAYS, I NEED AN EXPLANATION. THERE IT IS. THAT'S WHY HE DOES
WHAT, ACCORDING TO HIS GOOD PLEASURE WHICH HE PURPOSED IN HIMSELF.
NO OTHER REASON NEEDED, IS THERE? Verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, this is the way heaven will be
spent. He might gather together in one all things in Christ,
both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. in whom in the Lord Jesus Christ
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated, there's
our word is again, being predestinated according to the purpose of him
who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Don't you love the finality and
the strength of that language? Why? Verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. And this is very important. Paul is not saying we who first
trusted in Christ, we're the ones that are saved to the praise
of His glory. That's not what that's saying at all. Who is the first
person to trust Jesus Christ? I love that passage of scripture
in Genesis chapter 43, verse 8, where Judah gives us a glorious
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you remember Jacob. He didn't
want to send his darling son, Benjamin, down there. He's afraid
something would happen to him if he went to Egypt. As a matter
of fact, Reuben said, I'll take him down. He said, not on your
life, I know you. He would not trust Reuben. He
said, unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. I'm not gonna
send my boy down there with you. But then Judah, of what tribe
did Christ come from? Judah, the lion of the tribe. of Judah. He said, I will be surety for
him. Of my hand shalt thou require
of him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. And Jacob trusted Now, all that gives us is a view
into eternity past when the Lord Jesus Christ said with regard
to every one of His people individually, I will be surety for Him. I will take complete responsibility
for His salvation, for her salvation. my hand," he says to his father,
"'of my hand shalt thou acquire him. If I bring him not back
to thee, and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever.'"
Now, did the father have any doubt that the son would do that?
No. He trusted him completely, didn't
he? Oh, how He trusted His Son. Everything that the Father requires
of me, He trusted His Son for. And everything the Father requires
of me, I trust His Son for." How about you? I'm not looking anywhere else.
Everything God requires of me, I look to the Beloved, that we
should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. That's the glory of Christ. The
Father trusted Him completely. Verse 13, in whom you also trusted. When? After that, you heard the
Word of truth. Now, you can't trust something
you've never heard. When did you trust? After that,
you heard the Word of truth. Well, I was saved when I believed
in free will and then God taught me later. No, you weren't. Let
me tell you right now, no, you weren't. You were not saved until
you heard the Word of Truth. And what does He call it? In
whom you also trusted after that you heard the Word of Truth,
the Gospel of your salvation. You know what that means? You
found out you were saved. You didn't get saved. I despise
it when I hear people say, I got saved. The Lord saved you if
you're saved. And you know that. You heard
the gospel, the good news of your salvation, how that He saved
you. In whom also, after that ye believed,
you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Now this is
very important. This is not saying you believed,
then you were sealed. of grace. You believe, and then after that,
you experience the sealing and the power of the Holy Spirit.
That's not saying that at all. It's saying, believing you were
sealed. Believing you were sealed. Now, logically, life has to come
before faith. You can't believe, you can't
without having spiritual life. This is above the ability of
the natural man. Logically, life must come before
faith. Chronologically, they come at
the precise same time. You believe you've been sealed,
preserved, authenticated, in whom you also trusted, after
that ye heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that ye believed, or having believed, you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." I love the way he's
not called the Holy Spirit of law, he's called the Holy Spirit
of promise. salvation by the promise of God,
which is, verse 14, the earnest. What is earnest? Well, it's the
down payment. It's what makes it sure, earnest. God, the Holy Spirit is the earnest.
If I have faith, I have the Holy Spirit. If I have the Holy Spirit,
I have the earnest. which is the earnest of our inheritance
as joint heirs with Christ until, and here's what we're waiting
on, until the redemption, entering into what we have, perfect
likeness to Jesus Christ. Until the redemption, of the
purchased possession, and that's what the church is, that's what
every believer is, He purchased us. The purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory. Now this is speaking of the glory
of the Holy Spirit. Now in this passage of Scripture,
14 verses, there are only three sentences, and all of Each sentence
deals with the work of one of the persons of the Godhead, God
the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and they
all end with, to the praise of His glory. The praise of the
Father, the praise of the Son, and the praise of the Holy Spirit. Now let me close with these three
statements with regard to the praise of His glory. Number one. It is His glory. Don't you know that your salvation
is a testimony to Him getting all the glory? You believe that
with regard to yourself? He gets all the glory, doesn't
He? It all belongs to Him. And we love that, not only because
it does belong to Him, but it's a reminder to us that He does
it all in salvation. You see, if any glory goes to
me, that means something is expected out of me that I'm to be paid
for. That won't do this sinner any good. I must have him do
it all. That's why I want it to be all
his glory, because that gives me hope that I'll be saved, because
he does it all. And the Lord said in John chapter
17, verse 22, the glory that thou has given me. I have given them that they may
be one even as we are one. And this gives you some idea
of what that means. whom He did foreknow, them He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, whom He called,
them He also justified, whom He justified, them He also,"
what? Glorified. the glory which thou hast given
me, I have given them." Indeed, Ephesians is about the praise
of His glory. And if you and I believe on Christ,
I've got to close this message up with this. This is not a part
of my original intent. It should have been. Somebody
says, can I have this glory? Listen to me. If you believe
on Christ, you've got it. What do you mean believe on Christ? Do you believe he's the son of
God? Quit trying to figure out whether
or not you have faith. trying to figure out whether or not
you're saved. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God? Do you believe that He is the
Christ? My dear friend, if you do, that
is faith. Quit looking for something else.
Faith is believing who He is. and relying on who He is and
what He's done as all that's needed for you to be glorified
in God's sight. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in the high and
holy name of Your Son that You would take Your Word and place it by your spirit in
our heart. Lord, let us revel and rejoice
in the praise of your glory. In Christ's name we pray, amen.