Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter one? Verse five, having predestinated us, unto the adoption of children. And I could read that this way,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children to himself,
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 I could read it that way
and it would make sense, wouldn't it? It makes sense, but it would
take away the meaning of the entire Bible. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. I've entitled this message, By
Jesus Christ, this glorious mystery of being an adopted child where
I'm a son of God and he's my father and I have all of the
privileges of sonship. This is by Jesus Christ. It's not in any way independent
of Jesus Christ. It is by Jesus Christ. The preposition by means through
Jesus Christ. That's how I'm an adopted son.
That's why God predestinated me. It was not apart from Jesus
Christ. I've always been in Christ. It
means by means of Jesus Christ. That's how I was made his son,
by means of Jesus Christ. By reason of Jesus Christ. There's only one reason that
I'm adopted son, and that reason is Jesus Christ. He is the reason. It can be on account of Jesus
Christ. I'm a son of God. God predestinated
him. He elected me. Read the first
four. According as he has chosen us
in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now that is on account of
Jesus Christ. That's why God elected me. That's
why God predestinated me. That's why God adopted me. On
account of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ. For this reason, Jesus Christ. I like that, don't you? For this
reason, Jesus Christ. For the sake of Jesus Christ. And this being predestinated
under the adoption of children is by Jesus Christ. Now, when you see a book and
it says it's by someone, what's that mean? That person wrote
the book. It's by them. It's not by somebody
else. It's by them. If you see a beautiful piece
of artwork and you see a name on that artwork, it's by that
person who painted it. They put their name on it. They
did it all. Now, I'm going to give you a
number of scriptures. Hebrews chapter 10. Or chapter
two, verse 10, we read, for whom, speaking of Christ, for whom
are all things and by whom are all things. I love that. We read in John 1, 3, all things
were made by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. 1 Corinthians 8 verse 6, there's
one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him. Colossians 1 16, all things were
made by him and for him. Did you hear that? All things
were made by him and for him. And he is before all things. Whatever you want to say it is,
he's before it. He's the cause. He's first. He's before all things. And by
him, all things consist. Hebrews 1, 2 says, whom God hath
appointed heir of all things. by whom also he made the worlds. You see, salvation is by him. Salvation, every aspect of salvation
is by him. The writer, or Paul said to the
Thessalonians, for God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus
Christ. Not simply to obtain salvation,
but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ. Now, what's this all
about he's not appointed us to wrath? Does that mean somebody's
appointed to wrath? Well, I know this, everybody
that Christ didn't die for will suffer the wrath of God. How
else you wanna say that? John 1 17, the law was given
by Moses. But grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. The law is true, but it's not
the truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. We beheld his glory, the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Romans 3.21, but now, The righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
being witnessed by the law and prophets, even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. That righteousness
of God is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Galatians chapter
two, verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Now here's how
I'm justified. Somebody says, aren't we justified by faith?
Yeah, he is. His obedience, his law keeping,
his righteousness. Well, don't you have to believe?
Yeah, you got to believe that. That's exactly what you got to believe.
You believe you're justified by who he is and what he did. Listen to this scripture, Acts
chapter three, verse 16. Peter said, yea, the faith that
is by him hath given this man perfect soundness in the presence
of you all. Romans chapter 5 verse 10 being
now justified by his blood. His precious blood actually washed
away the sins of everybody he died for. And now we stand before
God justified. I've been preaching for 30 long time, and this is more glorious
to me than it's ever been. Justified, cleared of all guilt,
perfect before God by His blood. Romans 5.11 says, by whom, there's
that preposition again, by whom we've now received the atonement.
You know, it's only by Him we can receive something. I can't
even receive the truth unless he causes me to do it. By whom? We've now received the atonement. I think it's interesting how
religion tries to present, well, a reception of something as a
work. Well, you've got to receive it.
Well, if he gives it, you will receive it. And if you don't
receive it, he never gave it. But everybody he gives his grace
to, they receive it joyfully, gladly. Roman or 2nd Corinthians
5 18. And all things are of God who
has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. At reconciliation
where God embraces me and counts me as own and receives me. It's
by Jesus Christ. It's certainly not independent
of Jesus Christ in any way. It's by Jesus Christ. Romans
5 19 says, by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, even
so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous by the
obedience of one. Romans 5 20 and 21. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Now all God's law does is show
you and I that all we've done is broken it. Nothing else. And if you see it in any other
light than that, you've brought the law down to your level. Not
God's level, but your level. And you have a mighty high opinion
of yourself. If you ever see what God's law
really means, the law entered that the offense might abound,
overflow to where all you are is sin. But where sin abounded. Are you that place? Where sin
abounded, grace did much more bound. that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so my grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life, which is by Jesus Christ our Lord. Hebrews 1.3, when he had by himself
purged our sins. Now do you hear what that's saying?
When he did it by himself, that means you had absolutely nothing
to do with this. He did it by himself. When he
had by himself purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand
of God. Hebrews 9, 12, by his own blood. He entered once into the holy
place, talking about the very presence of God. He brought his
own blood. By his own blood, he entered
once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for
us. Hebrews 9.26, but now, once in
the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sins by
the sacrifice of himself. Hebrews 10.14, for by one offering. He hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Now, I've just given you 14 scriptures. And these scriptures overwhelmingly
tell us that salvation is utterly and completely by Him. No arguments. Now, here's my question. Does this make you happy? Do you like it being this way?
Salvation being utterly by Him. I mean, if you have faith, He
gave it to you. He's called the author and finisher
of our faith. Every aspect of salvation is
by Him. Turn with me for a moment to
2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul says to Timothy in verse
8, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,
nor of me, his prisoner. You know the reason that Paul
said that to Timothy? Timothy had a tendency to be
timid. He knew that. And he's saying, don't be that
way. Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord. Be proud
of it. Don't be ashamed of it. You know, I'm proud of the gospel
we believe. It's worthy of God. It glorifies God. It gives man
no glory. It gives God all the glory. Don't you love that? It's
not something to be ashamed of. To be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel, according to the power of God, who hath
saved us and called us with an holy calling. Now I've pointed
this out, I don't know how many times, but I'm gonna do it again.
What came first, the saving or the calling? He saved us, then he called us. And let me tell you something
about salvation. Every believer was saved before the foundation
of the world. Now that is so. Christ is the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Every believer
was saved before time began. Now people argue with that and
think it presents problems. It doesn't present any problems
to a believer. I like it being that way. That
lets me know that God did it all. I wasn't around to do any
works. He knew me, but he did it all. Christ did it all. It's
by Jesus Christ. I was considered the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. He saved us. Well, if that's
the case, you don't need to hear the gospel. You don't need to
wait. No, he saved us and he called us. He called us by invincible,
irresistible grace through the preaching of the gospel. He saved
us and he called us with a holy calling. not according to our
works. You know that song we sang at
the beginning of the service, one of my favorite lines, where
sin and sense molest no more. I get tired of being molested
by sin and sense. What a glorious thing it is for
Him to tell us we're saved, not according to our works. Doesn't
have anything to do with anything me or you have done. Is that
good news? You know, the only person who
wouldn't like this is somebody who's trusting in their works.
If you don't have any work to trust in, this is good news.
You love this. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Now, there you go. But, there's that but, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. who hath abolished death, that's
what he did on Calvary's tree, when he said, it is finished,
death was finished. It was finished. The sting of
death is sin. The strength of sin is the law,
but thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Now all of this, I don't want
to call it stuff, I don't know what to call it, but everything
that was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began because
it's everything. Everything that we have was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. But nothing would be known about
it by us or anybody else had it not been for the appearing,
the physical appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ when he was
made manifest in the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh.
Now, I love where Paul said, I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I've kept the faith. The faith,
henceforth, has laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me and all them that
love his appearing." And I love his appearing. As my surety before
time began, when he guaranteed my salvation, he said, everything
you require of Todd Norbert, you look to me for. That happened.
How that blesses our heart to know that. How I love his appearing
when he was made flesh. I'm flesh, he had to be made
flesh. How I love his appearing in his life when he kept the
law for me. At 30 years, I love thinking of those 30 years of
obscurity. Nobody knew him. Nobody knew
anything about him. They didn't get it. But what
was he doing all that time? Working out of perfect righteousness. for all of his people. I love
it when he said to John the Baptist, John the Baptist said, you're
coming to be baptized of me? I need to be baptized of thee.
He said, suffer to be so now. Thus it becometh us. Us. He talked about Paul. He talked
about everybody. What he did, he did as an us.
Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. I love his,
don't understand it, I love his appearing on the cross. I don't
love to, it makes me sick. It makes me feel horrible when
I think of my sin becoming his sin and him having to experience
my sin. No, he never committed it, but
he experienced everything about it. He was made sin and I love
his appearance on the cross because I know that if he didn't have
that appearance, I'd be in hell forever. I love His appearance
when He died. That's something. To think of
the Lord Jesus Christ in that tomb, dead. He who is life, dead. You see, the wages of sin is
dead. And if my sin's gonna be paid
for, either I'm gonna die or He's gonna die. He died. Now I don't have to die. I love
His appearance in His resurrection. There's something very special.
Nobody saw this but God. Angels didn't see it. When he
was in that tomb, nobody saw this but God. All of a sudden,
he opened his eyes. He'd been dead. And he opened
his eyes. And I love to think of what he
thought about when he opened his eyes. The Father is glorified.
All my people are saved. You think he was thinking about
you individually? Yes, I do. I know he was. Every single one
of his people. How can he think of everybody
at once? Well, he's God. He can do stuff me and you can't do. I love to think of his appearing
in his ascension, going back to the Father with all of his
people with him. His appearing right now at the
right hand of the Father is my intercessor. That's why I'm kept. He's there for me. I love to
think of his second return when every eye's gonna see. Oh, we
love that. We love to think of beholding
his glory for eternity. Now, it's only his appearing
that caused everything that was given us in Christ Jesus before
time began to be. You see, salvation is by Jesus
Christ. And in our experience of grace
approaching God, we only come to Him by Jesus Christ. There's no other way of approach.
He said, I'm the door. By me, if any man enter in, you'll
be saved. Now, when I come into God's presence,
I don't come, I'm a preacher. I preach grace. I really do love
you. I'm, I've, whatever you might
want to say, no, the only way I come is as a sinner needing
Him. I come by Jesus Christ. Now,
if you're a sinner, that's the only way you'll come. If you
have anything beyond being a sinner, you won't come by Him, but if
you're a sinner, the only way you'll dare come at all times,
at any time, is by Him. I am the way, the truth, the
life. No man can come unto the Father
but by me. Hebrews 7.25, wherefore he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him. Do you come any other way? Well,
I resisted that temptation. I feel like I can come into God's
presence now. Oh, I committed that sin. I'm
afraid I can't come into his presence now. I need to wait
till I feel better. No, no, no, no, no. At all times, the believer has
access with confidence by the faith of him. Ephesians 3, 12. There's no coming to God on any
level. but by him." Now listen to this,
anything done in us or by us is done by Jesus Christ. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. I live by
the faith of the Son of God. who loved me as I live. I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. In my experience, I believe my
faith is by him. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. Philippians 1.11, being filled,
this filling is of God, being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ. Now, I have the fruit of the
Spirit. Every believer does. It's by
Jesus Christ. He's the author of it, he's the
one who filled us. Do you have faith? It's by him,
he's the author. Listen to this scripture, Hebrews
13, 15. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise
continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. I won't even say, I don't know,
I'm afraid to say, I'm praising and thanking your name, except
by him. by Him, no other way but by Him. My praise and my thanksgiving
is enough to send me to hell. And the only way it can be accepted
by the Father is by Him. 1 Peter 2.5, you also as living
stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. That's the only way they're acceptable,
is by Jesus Christ. Peter said in 1 Peter 3, 21,
he talked about the answer of a good conscience to God by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now there's only
one thing that satisfies my conscience. Somebody says, well, I don't
feel guilty about this thing. I do. Regarding anything I say,
anything I do, I don't want it to come before God in judgment.
Well, I've got a clear conscience. The only thing that satisfies
my conscience is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
That sin was paid for, put away. Oh, when he said it is finished,
how God was glorified, how completely every believer was saved. Now turn with me for a moment
to 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 10. Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all
speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you
but that you'd be perfectly joined together in the same mind and
in the same judgment. Now, I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there were divisions
in the Church of Corinth. Some were saying, I'm of Paul.
Others were saying, I'm of Apollos. Others were saying, I'm of Cephas.
And the real pious one said, well, I don't follow any man.
I'm of Christ. You had preacher worship. constant criticism of
Paul, pride, sexual sin, marriage problems, pride of knowledge,
lusting for evil things, murmuring, idolatry, drunkenness, shameful
abuse of gifts, denial of the resurrection, an unforgiving
spirit, people being unequally yoked with unbelievers, People
actually taking each other to the law and suing each other.
Lack of generosity and this party sectarian spirit that he's speaking
of. Now that was going on in the church at Corinth. Are churches that bad? Yeah. You know, this is one reason
I want to use this to say there's never a reason to quit a church
unless the gospel's not being preached. That's the reason. There's too much sin in that
church. There's too much wrongdoing. Well, no doubt any sin is too
much. Any wrongdoing is too much. Nobody's
going to deny that. Nobody's going to justify that.
But if you look at the Church of Corinth, I mean, that place
was a mess. Now Paul is making an appeal
to him. And what an appeal it was to speak the same thing,
to have the same mind, to have the same judgment. He deals with
all of these things in these next two epistles. But what was
his argument? I beseech you, because if you
do this, God will reward you. If you do this, if you don't
do this, God will punish you. He doesn't use that at all, does
he? I beseech you by the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is all that's needed. And me and you better be willing
to walk through fire for his namesake. Nothing else is needed. This is his only ground of beseeching. I beseech you by the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. No other reason for obedience
is needed. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake. had forgiven you. Why did God forgive you? For
Christ's sake. Is it because you asked for forgiveness?
No. Is it because you were sorry for your sin? No, you weren't
sorry enough. Is it because you promised to
not do it anymore? Make that promise, see how long that lasts. The only reason that God forgives,
and a glorious reason this is, is for Christ's sake. He says in 2 Corinthians 10,
1, I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. This is the rule of our action. Now let's go back to our text
in Ephesians 1 for just a moment. having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. This glorious adoption. And like
I said a couple of weeks ago, this is the highest blessing,
to be a son, to be a daughter of the living God. There is no
higher blessing than this. to be a son, having predestinated
us into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, through Jesus
Christ, by means of Jesus Christ, by reason of Jesus Christ, on
account of Jesus Christ, because of Jesus Christ, for this reason,
Jesus Christ. for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Now, words come up short in expressing this. Christ is all. Let's pray.