Andy is going to preach for us
tonight, and if you hadn't changed the subject, you're going to
preach on the Sons of Korah, right? Number 16, if you can read it
this afternoon. Back to our text in Ephesians
chapter 1. I've entitled this message, Who
First Trusted Christ? Verse 12, that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. Now, a lot of people read that,
that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise
of His glory. But that is not what it says.
It's not making a distinction among men who are the first ones
to trust Him. are to the praise of his glory. And you all came along afterwards
and you trusted him too. But that's not what Paul is saying. It's making a distinction among
men. And the word first trusted is
only one word in the original, and it's the only time this word
is used in the New Testament. And it means literally before
trusted or before hoped or hoped beforehand, before the fact. Now, it's also in the perfect
tense. Have you ever trusted Christ
perfectly? Is there ever a time when you
have not had to say, I believe, help thou mine unbelief? No, you and I have not trusted
him perfectly. We should, but we haven't. We have this thing called the
flesh that prevents that. But I know who did trust Christ
perfectly. The Father. He entrusted the
salvation of all of his people to the Son and Christ took full
responsibility. Let me show you some scriptures
on this. Turn to John 6. Verse 36, that I said unto you
that you also have seen me. And believe not, John 6, 36,
he tells these people who do not believe, you've seen me and
believe not all that the father giveth me shall come to me. The father gave Christ a people
and entrusted them to him. All that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
Now, do you hear that? If you come to the Father through
Christ, if you come to Christ, he will not, for any reason whatsoever,
cast you away. You have that promise. Now, let's
go on reading. Verse 38, for I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent
me. Now, I love that language. What if I said I came down from
heaven? You'd say, well, you're crazy. I'm sure many people were
thinking that of the Lord Jesus when he said, I came down from
heaven. I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the
will of him that sent me. And this is the father's will,
which has sent me that of all which he has given me, I should
lose nothing. You see the father entrusted
to Christ people. And he said, I'm not going to
lose one of them. That's the father's will. I should
lose nothing but raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of him that sent me that everyone would see at
the sun and believe it on him may have everlasting life. And
I'll raise him up at the last day." Turn to John 10. Verse 24, then came the Jews
round about him and said to him, how long does thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Huh, he already
had. Jesus answered him, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because you're
not of my sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I'm successful.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man's
able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father
are one." Turn to John 17. Six times in this great high
priestly prayer for his people, he mentions those the father
gave him. Look in verse two. As thou has given him power over
all flesh. Do you know everybody in the
world is in his hand right now? Everybody in this room, everybody
outside of this room, he has power over all flesh. He has
power over you. He has authority over you. You're in his hand
and he can do with you whatever he's pleased to do. And whatever
he does is right. He's God. He has power and authority
over all flesh. Let's go on reading that he should
give eternal life to as many as thou has given him. Verse
six, I've manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest
me. Verse nine, I pray for them,
I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given
me, for they are thine. Verse 11, now I'm no more in
the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee, holy
father, keep through thine own name those whom thou has given
me that They may be one as we are one. Look down in verse 24.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with
me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given
me for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
That's so clear. The Father gave Christ a people and he entrusted
these people to the Son and the Son is completely trustworthy
in their salvation. Now I'm trusting the same one
the Father is trusting. The Father entrusts all of my
salvation to the Son. I'm trusting all of my salvation
with the Son. I think of that scripture, Hebrews
2.13, Behold, and I and the children which thou hast given me, when
the Father gave us to the Son before the foundation of the
world, He completely trusted Him for our salvation. He didn't
have any doubts. He didn't have any misgivings.
He completely trusted the Son. There was no doubt in the Father's
mind. that the Son would completely save us. Now, the Bible gives
us a beautiful illustration of this, and I find such joy in
this. I hope the Lord will give us
the grace to see. It's found in the story of Joseph.
Now, we're going to be looking at Joseph quite a bit for the
next few weeks, from Acts chapter 7, but let me just give you the
story. Joseph is the favored As a matter
of fact, the scripture says Jacob loved him more than he did his
other boys and made him a coat of many colors. All the facets
of it. This is a picture of Christ,
all the facts, facets of his beautiful person and distinguish
him from the rest of his brothers. And what did his brothers do?
They hated him. They hated him for the very things.
Jacob loved him for. They hated him. And they couldn't
speak peaceably at him. They were jealous of him. And
you can understand that. Wouldn't you be jealous if your parents
showed favoritism to one of your siblings way over you? And Jacob
did it. And Joseph, in the course of
time, starts having some dreams. And he dreams that his brothers
are going to have to bow down before him. And he tells them
about it. And he dreams that the sun and the moon and the
stars are going to do obeisance to him. Now, can you imagine
how his brothers felt about that? Jacob got upset about it. Are
you saying me and your mother are going to bow down to you?
Well, that's the dream. So one day, his father sent his
son, beloved son, Joseph, to look about the brothers tending
the sheep. And they see him coming from afar, and they said, here
this dreamer comes. Let's see what's going to become
of him. Let's kill him. Let's kill him. Let's put him
out of business. And Reuben spoke up. He said, we can't kill him.
We can't kill him. Judah came up with a great idea.
They put him in a pit and they said, what profit will there
be for us if we kill him? Let's sell him and make money
off of him and let him go into Egypt. They sold him to the Midianites.
They took his coat of many colors, dipped it in blood. Look how
cruel this is. They bring it back to their father
and they say, is this your son's coat? They knew it was. And he
says, oh, I'm going to be brought to sorrow. And so Joseph heads
down with the Midianites to be sold into Egypt. Now he's sold
into a house, Potiphar's house. Most of you are familiar with
his story. He sold into Potiphar's house and the scripture says
the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him and made everything
he did to prosper. And Potiphar put all of his everything
in Joseph's hand, whatever it was. He said, I don't know anything
about what I have, but the food I ate, it's all in Joseph's hand. The Lord prospered Joseph so
much in this situation. But Potiphar's wife sought to
lay with him every day. Every day she was tempting him,
come lay with me. And he wouldn't do it. He said,
how can I sin against God? So what she did, she told her
husband, he tried to rape her. And so he was thrown in prison
after him doing nothing but good. He's thrown into prison. But
you know what the scripture says? The Lord was with him. The Lord
was with him even in prison. And he prospered in prison. And
the prison keeper made him the doer of anything that's done.
Joseph was the doer of it. He was reigning, prospering even
in prison. And while he was in prison, a
butler and a baker had a great And he interpreted their dreams.
The butler was going to be promoted back to his original post and
the baker was going to have his head cut off. And that's exactly
what happened. And Joseph said when the butler
was leaving, please remember me. But the butler forgot him. So there he is in prison. Scripture says his feet were
hurt with fetters in Psalm. I can't remember what Psalm it
is, but it was it was a terrible time for him. And there he is. And then All of a sudden Pharaoh
has these dreams. And Pharaoh dreams about a skinny
cow eating a fat cow. Seven skinny cows eating seven
fat cows and seven blasted ears of corn eating seven full ears
of corn. He doesn't know what it means. And his butler remembers
there's a man in prison that can interpret dreams. And so
they bring out Joseph. Joseph tells him what the dream
means. There's going to be seven years
of plenty. The earth is going to bring forth
food in the handfuls. And right after that, there's
going to be seven years of famine. And it's going to be the worst
famine the land has ever seen. And it's done twice to make sure
you know this is going to happen. And so you know what Pharaoh
did? Pharaoh made him the head of the management of those seven
years of plenty. And he prospered in that. And
he made all kinds of food. What he's going to end up doing
is making all the world is going to have to come to Egypt to buy food.
That was the only place there was food. And if you were going
to have any food, it was up to Joseph. Your life was in Joseph's
hand. Now, this famine had stretched
to Canaan. where Jacob and his brothers
lived. Jacob and his sons, rather, lived.
And Jacob heard there's corn in Egypt, and he said to his
boys, go get this corn. Go buy some corn. So the 10 brothers
went. He had a son, Benjamin. He wouldn't
see him because he thought, I don't want mischief to come to him.
So he sends the 10 brothers, and there they appear before
Joseph. And Joseph knows who they are. They don't know him.
He speaks roughly to them. You're spies. You've come to
spy out the land. No, we're not. We're 12 sons
of one man, and one is not, and the other is still with him.
We're true men. We're not spies. We've just come
to buy food. So what Joseph does, and he's remembering at this
time when he sees these men bowing before him, scared to death,
he remembers those dreams. I dream this would happen. And
here it is, but he doesn't make himself known to them. He speaks
roughly to him, he says, I'm gonna give you this food, but
don't come back unless you come back with the little brother
you have that you've talked about, because that'll prove that you're
not spies and I'll give you more food. Okay, they go back, they
eat, I don't know how long, the food that they had got from Joseph,
and they run out of food again, Jacob says, go back, go back
and get us some food. And they said, we can't do it
unless we bring Benjamin. He said, why did you even tell
him I had Benjamin? I can't do that. I can't deal
with his death. Jacob was now showing favoritism
toward Benjamin over the rest of the bunch. And he said, I
can't do it. Now, turn to Genesis chapter 42. This is when He's
going to be sent back. Genesis 42. Verse 35. And it came to pass as they emptied
their sacks that behold, every man's bundled money was in a
sack. He didn't charge him. He let him go without having
to pay for it. And when both they and their father saw the
bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob, their father, said
unto them, Me, have you bereaved of my children? Joseph is not,
Simeon is not, and you'll take Benjamin away? All these things
are against me. You ever talk like that before?
All these things are against me. And Reuben spake and his
father saying, slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee. You
remember they had to go back to bring Benjamin back or he
wouldn't do it. And Reuben said, let me take
responsibility for him and slay my two sons if I bring him not
to thee, deliver him into my hand and I'll bring him to thee
again. He said, my son is not gonna
go down with you. He didn't trust him for a second. You remember
what he said about Reuben? Unstable as water, thou shalt
not excel. He wouldn't dare trust his precious
Benjamin to somebody like Reuben. Chapter 43, and the famine was sore in the
land, and it came to pass when they'd eaten up the corn which
they'd brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them,
go again, buy us a little food, And Judah spake unto him. Who did Christ come from? Judah. Who was Jacob's most important
son? Somebody said Joseph. No, not Joseph. Judah. The Christ would come through
Judah. And this is such a type of what
I'm trying to say about who first trusted Christ. Now let's go
on reading. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly
protest unto us, saying, You shall not see my face, except
your brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother
with us, we'll go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not
send him, we'll not go down. For the man said unto us, You
shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. And
Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell
the man whether ye had a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state, of our kindred, saying, is your
father yet alive? Have you yet another brother?
And we told him according to the tenor of these words, could
we certainly have known what he would say, bring your brother
down? And Judah said to Israel, his father, send the lad with
me. Same thing that Reuben said,
but he wouldn't trust Reuben. Send the lad with me and we'll
arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou
and also our little ones. I will be surety for him. I'll take full responsibility
for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. Now that is what the Lord Jesus
said regarding every one of his people. I will be surety for
him, for her, for all of his elect. Whatever you require of
them, look to me for. If I bring him not to thee, I
think of the Lord saying that regarding me. If I bring him
not to thee and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Now everything that God requires
of me, he looks to his son for. Everything God requires of me,
I look to His Son for. Our text is literally in Ephesians. Turn back to Ephesians 1. Now
the word is actually, who first hoped in Christ. Ephesians chapter
1. That we should be to the praise
of His glory who first hoped. in Christ. Now, hope in the scripture
is a confident expectation. You don't have any doubts about
it. Not like, I hope we have good weather. I hope it won't
rain when I'm trying the day I want to cut grass. No, that's
not what hope means. Hope is a confident expectation
And God the Father had a confident expectation in his son. He didn't
have any doubt as to what he would be able to do. He entrusted
all of the elect to his son and said, you take complete responsibility
for their salvation. And he said, I'll do it. And
the father had complete confidence that he would do it. He's the first one who trusted
or hoped in Christ. Now, I wanna talk about my hope,
my personal hope, just for a moment. Remember, hope is confident expectation. And the first thing I wanna tell
you about my hope is it sure doesn't have anything to do with
anything to me. It has nothing to do with anything
in me. You remember what Paul said regarding
the true circumcision, where the true circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. And this hope that I'm going
to be expressing that really is the hope of every believer.
It has nothing to do with anything in me. Now the father first hoped
in Christ. I'm hoping in him too. Nothing
to do with anything in me. Now here's my hope. I have a
hope, a confident expectation that on judgment day, I'm going
to be without sin. Someone who has never done anything
wrong and always done that which is right. And I'm going to hear
God himself say to me, well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. This is what the Bible calls
justification. You remember that publican in
the temple? beating on his breast, crying, God, be merciful to me,
the sinner, the worst man to ever live. That's how he saw
himself, nothing but sin. He didn't see any goodness in
himself. He saw himself as completely dead, unable to do anything,
sin. And what'd the Lord say about
that man? He said, I say unto you, that man went down to his
house Justified. Perfect. Without sin. Without guilt. That is the heritage
of every believer. Justification. He went down to
his house justified. Being justified. What justification
means? It means you never sinned. It
means you've always done that which is perfect and right in
Christ. I have. I have. Furthermore, I have a hope that
everything that happens to me, has happened to me, and will
happen to me, is working together for my good, according to His
purpose. Everything! Everything! Romans
8, 28 says, and we know that all things, all things, what
is all things? All things! work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Now, how many times have you
thought, I wish that didn't happen? I regret that. I wish I hadn't
have done that. That's foolish. All things. Whatever it is, Whether
painful or joyous, all things are working together for good
to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now, Paul says in Romans 8.24,
as a matter of fact, turn with me there. For we are saved, Romans 8, 24.
We are saved by hope. Now, does that mean we're saved
by our feeling of hope? No, no. You know, sometimes you feel
nothing but despair. I'd like to get it all in a bottle
and keep it that way, but it's not talking about our feeling
of hope. We're saved by our hope. Christ himself is our hope. How much, I ask this question
again, how much does God look to Christ for your salvation? All of it. All of it. How much do you look to Christ
for your salvation? Him only. Him only. Now, me being in heaven's
glory, If being saved is in any way to any degree dependent upon
me doing something or not doing something, I have no hope. None at all. Here's my hope. Just as Judah
took full responsibility for Benjamin, of my hand shall you
require of him. If I bring him not before thee
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever. Just
as Judah took full responsibility for the welfare of Benjamin,
Christ, my blessed hope, took full responsibility for my salvation. I will be sure to And in Hebrews
7.22, he's called the surety. The surety. That's the guarantee. The surety of a better testament. Now, I repeat, my hope is the
hope of justification. When I stand before God, there
is no sin. I never sinned. I'm perfect.
I'm righteous. That's what the Lord accomplished
for his people. full justification. And my hope
is that everything that happens between now and then, and it's
happened before then, is working together for my good and his
glory. Now, I can't see it. What did
Paul say in Romans 8, 25? He said, for we're saved by hope,
but hope that is seen is not hope. You see, if you see something,
you've entered into the experience of it. Hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth
he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it? Now, I cannot see
how I'm justified. I can't see my perfect standing
before God because I'm aware of sin. I can't see how I've
never sinned. I can't see how I have perfect
righteousness before God, and I can't see how everything's
working together for my good. I know the Word of God tells
me that, but I can't see it. How could that be for good? How
could that be for good? What good could possibly come
out of that? But I believe, I have a hope
that I am justified. I can't see it. I have a hope
that everything is working together for my good. Now, turn with me
to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter 3. My hope is in the one
who first hoped in Christ. That's my hope. My hope is in
the one who first hoped in Christ. Now, in 1 Peter 3, we read these
words, beginning in verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts. Now what in the world does that
mean? We can't make him holy, he already is holy. But we can
regard him as holy. Now how do you regard him as
holy? By looking to his son only. You believe the gospel and you're
sanctifying God. You don't believe the gospel,
you're not sanctifying God, but if you believe the gospel, You're
sanctifying Him in your hearts. Look what it says next. And be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's
in you with meekness and fear. Respect, not being an arrogant
religious jerk, but with meekness and respect. Always be ready
to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason, a reason
for the hope that's in you. Now somebody, I'm going to pretend
one of you all asked me, give me an answer. Give me a reason
that you have such a hope. Okay, I will. I will. I'll do
so gladly. Now, first, I have to say once
again, I've got this hope, but it has nothing to do with me.
I have no confidence in my flesh. I have no confidence in your
flesh. It has nothing to do with me. But this hope that I have
is founded on scripture. That's why I believe this. You
say you believe that you stand without guilt before God. You
stand as one who's never sinned. You don't have to have any worry
about judgment day because there's no sin. You stand perfect and
accepted and without guilt before God. Now, how can you believe
something like that? Well, I'll show you. Turn to
Colossians 1. Verse 20, and having made peace, Colossians
1.20, and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. This
is what he did by his death on the cross to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. I've got a scriptural reason
for my hope. This is not pie in the sky. This comes from the
word of God, and this is the heritage of every believer. When
I talk about everything working together for my good, though
I can't see it, but yet believe in it, well, the Bible says,
and we know that all things work together for good. To them who
love God, to them who are they called according to his purpose. Now, this hope I have, I love
this about this hope. This hope doesn't come to me
where I ought to be. It comes to me where I am. I
know where I ought to be. Can't get there. This hope comes
to me where I am. The Lord came to the grave of
Lazarus. Lazarus, come forth. He was dead. You're right about that. My hope
comes to me where I am and says, live. And I live. And that, it comes to me where
I am. I'd like to be where I ought
to be, never get there. Always a day late and a dollar
short. I'd like to be where I ought to be, but thank the Lord he
comes to me not where I ought to be. If you get here, then
I'll do this. No, he comes to me where I am.
Like the good Samaritan, it says he came to him where he was. And my hope comes to me where
I am. For a sinful man like me to be
sinless, it must be a hope that begins with God and is carried
all the way through by God. It must be His work alone, from
the beginning to the end. If it's not, I won't be saved. My hope's no good. Thank God
this is my hope. unto him that's able to keep
you from falling and to present you spotless before his presence
with exceeding joy. You see, my hope is that Christ
really is all my salvation. I really believe that. The Lord
Jesus Christ is really all in my salvation. Listen to this.
My hope, the hope that I have, the hope that every believer
has, is a hope that is consistent with every attribute of God. Now if your hope It doesn't line
up with God's attributes. It's not a good hope. You say,
what do you mean by that? Well, my hope is consistent with
the justice of God. God is absolutely just. He's
going to punish all sin. He's going to put it away. For
you to be perfect in His sight, you've got to be without sin.
God made a way in His justice to do that, to be just and justify
the ungodly. My hope is consistent with the
sovereignty of God. Somebody says, well, I'm saved
because I did this, I believe that, I have my own free will
except that Jesus is my personal Savior. Well, you're saying your
will is sovereign over God's will that way. That's inconsistent.
That won't work. My hope is consistent with the
love of God. His love is eternal love. If
He loves you, He'll always love you and always will love you.
He's not going to send you to hell. Well, I love that person, but
they didn't let me save him, so I had to send him to hell.
No, that's so inconsistent with the character of God. You see,
the glorious thing of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is it
magnifies every attribute of God. It glorifies every attribute
of God. God is made known. God is displayed
in the cross of his dear son. And my hope is consistent with
every attribute of God. And my hope is a hope that will
cause me to endure all the way unto the end. He does it all. Now, question. How do you have
this hope? Now you listen to me real carefully.
How do you have this hope? How do you have this hope when
you commit the same sins over and over again? That's a good question, isn't
it? How do you have this hope when
you habitually... Somebody says, well, you're not
talking to me. Well, don't listen then. Don't listen. Maybe I'm
not talking to you, but there's somebody I'm talking to. How
can you have this hope when you habitually commit the same sins
over and over again. Turn with me to John chapter
13. Then verse six, then cometh he to
Simon Peter. This is when he was watching
their feet. And Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my
feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest
not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him,
Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon, Peter saith unto him,
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith
to him, He that is washed needeth not safe to wash his
feet, but is clean every whit, completely clean. And you are
clean, but not all. He was talking about Judas. He
knew he was going to betray him. You're not all clean, but here's
what the Lord is saying. You are clean every whit, perfectly
clean. You walk through this world every
day. You get your feet dirty, don't
you? And you need to be washed anew by the gospel. I don't want to sin anymore. I hate sin. I don't want to sin
anymore. But you know what? I'm going
to. You are too. Thank God for the continual cleansing
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's my hope. That's my
hope, that he continually washes me and cleanses me from my sin. And here's the last thing about
my hope. I'm going to be turned into a pile of dirt one day.
I'm going to die and I'm going to be nothing but dirt, minerals.
I can't remember how many minerals there are in the body, but I'm
just going to be a bunch of dirt. How in the world am I going to
be raised up to be just like Christ with a sinless body? By
the irresistible call of his grace, when he raises the dead
on that final resurrection, Which is not all sleep, but will all
be changed in the moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last
trump for the dead in Christ shall be raised up. All because of the one who first
trusted Christ. You know, by his grace, I trust
him. You know what? I'm not trusting my trust. I'm
trusting in him who first trusted Christ. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank and praise
you for your grace. How we thank you that you entrusted
all of our salvation to thy blessed son. Lord, how we thank you for
his trustworthiness. The power is blood, the sufficiency
of his righteousness. To think that even right now
he's standing before you as our representative. And all you have
to do is look to him and nothing else needs to be said. How we
thank you for justification. How we thank you that everything
is working together for our good and his glory. Lord, we ask for
grace to honor and glorify thy dear son. I bless this message for your
glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.
We got Dwayne.