Would you turn back to Ephesians? Now, Lord willing, we're going to
begin a study of the book of Ephesians. And I'm very much
excited about this. I haven't preached through it.
probably 15, 16 years ago. And, um, I don't know that you
should use a man as a matter of fact, you should. And I don't,
you know, they try to say something and say, so-and-so believe this
like it would add something to it. Uh, is it what the word God
teaches? But a preacher by the name of
Martin Lloyd Jones made this statement about the book of Ephesians
and I really liked it. And I agree with it. He says,
Romans is probably the most important of the epistles. And I would
agree with that. I think it brings out the gospel
more clearly. And he said, the book of Ephesians
is the most sublime of all the epistles. And I believe that. Paul speaks of the great mysteries
of Christ and his church. He gives us this armor. He states
grace more clearly than anywhere. in this book of Ephesians, and
he speaks of the church as being the bride and the body of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, there's things dealt
with. He uses the word mystery on five
different occasions, and he doesn't do that in any of his other epistles
like that. He might mention mystery, but
here, five times he mentions it. So I do believe that this
is a sublime I wish I could say that the way it ought to be said.
But the church at Ephesus was probably started by Aquila and
Priscilla. They are mentioned several times
in Scripture. They're a very special couple.
If you'll remember, not that long ago, I brought a message
on them. But turn with me to Acts chapter 18. Verse 18, and Paul, after this,
tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the
brethren and sailed thence unto Syria, and with him Priscilla
and Aquila, having shorn his head in Sincrea, for he had a
vow, and he came to Ephesus and left them there. So they were
left in Ephesus by the apostle Paul. This is where they met
Apollos. Look in verse 24 of chapter 18.
And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent
man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was
instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in the
spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing
only the baptism of John. He had not yet known that Christ
died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. He just knew of
the coming Lamb of God. And he began to speak boldly
in the synagogue, whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, They
took him unto them and expounded in him the way of God more perfectly. And I personally believe it's
possible that Apollos was the writer to the Hebrews, because
Hebrews, whoever wrote Hebrews was mighty in the scriptures,
and he was mighty in the scripture. Look in chapter 19, verse one.
And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul,
having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus. and finding
certain disciples. He came to Ephesus, and look
in verse 8 of this chapter. And he went into the synagogue
and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and
persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But divers
were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way before
the multitude. He departed from them and separated
the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyranus.
And this continued by the space of two years. This is how long
he was once again in Ephesus. So that all they which dwelt
in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Paul
was greatly instrumental in preaching to the Ephesians. As a matter
of fact, if you go on reading in chapter 19, you read about
the riot that took place in Ephesians. And in chapter 20, we have Paul's
address to the Ephesian elders. And something that is thought
provoking, I don't know what you would call it. Do you remember what the Lord
said to the church at Ephesus in the book of Revelation? That
was the first church he wrote to. And he said, I've got something
against you. You've left your first love. And he said, I'm going to remove
your candlestick if you do not repent. And if you look at the
last words of the book of Ephesus, Paul made this statement. He
didn't make this statement to any other church. He said, grace
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Maybe he saw something in this
church that troubled him, and that's why he said that. And
the Lord did end up saying to this church, you've left your
first love. And that's something I don't
want to do. I want to always be in my first love toward the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, back to Ephesians 1. That gave us some kind of background
as to the beginning of this church. Verse one, Paul, an apostle. You know, Paul never called himself
the Apostle Paul. I like that. Paul, an apostle. He didn't look at this as some
kind of title. He spoke of the office. Paul,
an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God. Now the apostles
were the men who had seen the Lord physically and been taught
the gospel directly by him. Paul said in Galatians to the
Galatians, the gospel which was preached to me was not after
man, for I neither received it of man, Neither was I taught
it, but by the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ." He was
taught the gospel of Christ directly. That's how he came to his wisdom
and understanding in the gospel. Now, let me remind you that the
apostles were sinful men, just like me and you. The same struggles
you have, they had. They had these sinful natures
just like you and I do. They were sinful men, but sent
of God nonetheless with the gospel of Christ and their writings
were authoritative. Now this is important for us
to understand this. Their writings were authoritative Inspired by
God. Now turn to 1 Peter chapter 1.
Let me show you what Peter said about the scriptures and then
what he said about the Apostle Paul. The writings of the apostles
were authoritative. That means God breathed, God
inspired. And we go to the scriptures.
That's our only rule of faith and practice. We don't have a
400-page document to explain that it's our only rule and faith
and practice. We just have the Bible. That's it. Don't want
anything else. I really don't. In 2 Peter 1,
look at the way Peter spoke of the scriptures. Beginning in verse 16, for we
have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto
you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him
from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased, and this voice which came from heaven we heard.
when we were with him in the holy mouth." Now he's talking
about the mount of transfiguration. When the Lord was transfigured
before the three, Peter, James, and John, and his face shined
like the sun, his clothes became white and glistening, and they
heard that voice from heaven, this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased, hear ye him. Now look what he says, verse
19, and I I've thought about James and John and Peter, what
a blessing of grace that was for the Lord to do that for them.
But look what he says in verse 19, we also have a more sure
word of prophecy. Where into you do well that you
take heed as into a light that shineth in a dark place and to
the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing
this first, this comes first. This is more important than anything
else, because this is where everything comes from. Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation.
For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now he was talking about the
Old Testament scriptures. Now look in chapter three, verse 15. and to count that the
long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul, also according to the wisdom given unto him,
hath written unto you as also in all his epistles, speaking
in them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood. which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest, as they do also the other scriptures. You
see, he's attributing the writings of Paul to scriptures, inspired
scriptures, just like the Old Testament. And these men twist
as they also do other scriptures to their own destruction. Now,
Paul recognized that he was God's apostle, sent of God with this
special authority. Look in 1 Corinthians 12, I mean
2 Corinthians 12. Paul was always having to defend
his authority to the Corinthians. They were questioning him all
the time, and look what he says here. He says, I've become a fool in
glory, and you've compelled me. For I ought to have been commended
of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles. Though
I be nothing. He knew that he was really the
chief apostle. He was the man God used more
than any other man to expound the gospel. He wrote 13 books
in the Bible. And what does he say about himself?
I'm nothing. Even though he was taken into
the third heaven, look in the first verse of chapter 12 while
we're there. It's not expedient for me, doubtless
to glory. I'll come to visions, revelations
of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ about
14 years ago. He's talking about himself. He's
speaking in humility. He didn't say, this happened
to me 14 years ago. He speaks, I knew a man in Christ.
Boy, that's the only way I want to be. How about you? A man in
Christ. I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago, whether in the body, I cannot tell, whether
out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth. Such an one caught
up to the third heaven, and I knew such a man, whether in the body
or out of the body, I can't tell, God knoweth. How that he was
caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which
it's not lawful for a man to utter. As such a one will I glory,
yet of myself I'll not glory, but in my infirmities." treated
in this special way as the apostle, and yet he recognizes himself
to be the chief of sinners and nothing at all. That was his
testimony concerning himself. Look in Ephesians 3. He says to the church at Ephesus
with regard to his apostleship, Ephesians chapter 3, for this
cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, for you Gentiles.
If you've heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is
given me to you would have it by revelation. He made known
unto me the mystery. As I wrote afford a few words,
whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the
mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto
the sons of men as it's now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the spirit. that the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the
gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the
grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His
power unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this
grace given. that I should preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Here is why I have
this understanding. Here is why I'm saying these
things and making known these mysteries, because Christ taught
me directly. Now the point of this is the
divine authority of the Apostle's doctrine. Now the statements
he made are amazing concerning grace, concerning church, being
Christ's body and Christ's bride, the spiritual armor we've given
to wear. He gives us all these things
by revelation and he speaks with divine authority. The apostles
are all dead. There were 12 apostles. Paul
took the place of Judas. You can remember when they elected
Matthias, but God never put him as an apostle. He'd already picked
out Paul, and they spake authoritatively, and everything we believe comes
from the authoritative Word of God, and there are no apostles
today. Anyone who claims to be apostle
is a liar and a fraud. We read in the book of Revelation
of the 12 apostles of the Lamb, there were only 12 apostles. And anyone who makes that claim
is a liar and a fraud. Now look what he says next in
Ephesians chapter one. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
sent by Jesus Christ. Next statement he makes is by
the will of God. Paul says, I didn't place myself
in this position. I didn't confer this authority
upon myself. I'm an apostle by the will of
God. Now God's will, God willed this
to take place. I love thinking about God's will. You know, we just read in Psalm
40, I delight to do thy will. God, yea, thy law is written
within my heart." And when he said in the volume of the book
it's written of me, he's not talking about the Scriptures.
He's talking about most of the Scriptures hadn't even been recorded
at that time. He's talking about that book
we read of in Revelation chapter 5, sealed with seven seals that
only the Lamb could open, the book of God's eternal purposes
and God's eternal decrees. The will of God. Now, we're even
taught to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. That's the
desire of our heart, that his kingdom would come and that his
will would be done. Now, his will is rooted in his
sovereignty. I love thinking about the will
of God. It's always done because He's sovereign, because He is
all-powerful. He has the power to make His
will come to pass. He has the right to make His
will come to pass. Can I not do what I will with
my own? You sure can. He always does
His will. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in earth and sea and all deep places. And Paul
says, I am an apostle by the will of God. Now in salvation,
the will of God is supreme. What do I mean by that? Remember
in, we just read in Psalm 40. I was glad you read that because
I'm going to quote that. The writer of the Hebrews quotes
it. Hebrews chapter 10. Low in the volume of the book,
it's written of me, I delight to do thy will, O God. He says
concerning God's will, by the which will? By God's will, we
are sanctified. once for all, something that
can't be added to or taken away from, something that's perfectly
completed and it's never to be repeated. We are sanctified once
for all through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now that God's will is absolutely
supreme in salvation. I think of what our 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 Father's will which has sent
me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. Now Paul is an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and he's writing to the
saints which are in Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Now we're gonna come back in
a minute to the saints and the faithful, But this is one of
37 times in this epistle he uses this phrase, in Christ. There's no more important concept
than this, this thing of being in Christ. Now in Christ is a
very big place. It's as big as Christ, which
is infinite. It's a very big place, but it's
the only place the believer wants to be. I never want to be seen
independently of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to be judged
for this sermon. I don't want to be judged for
my prayers. I don't want to be judged for my sins. I don't want
to be judged for anything. I simply want to be found in
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where all of God's salvation
is. He said, this is my beloved son.
In whom? Not with whom, that would have
been right if he would have said that, with whom I'm well pleased.
But he didn't say with whom, he said in whom I'm well pleased. I certainly understand why Paul
said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. When God comes looking for me,
I only want to be found in him. Everything God has for the sinner
is in Christ. And outside of Christ, there's
nothing but his righteous condemnation in Christ. This is who I'm writing
to. And Paul makes so much. And you read these first 14 verses
of Ephesians chapter 3, and you see how all of God's blessing
is in Christ. But let's just read verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. in heavenly places in Christ. And he goes on to enumerate what
all those blessings are. That's what we're going to consider
next week. But there are two words that
are used to describe these people that are in Christ Jesus. Saints
and faithful. Now that would describe every
believer. the saints, and the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Now, the word saint means a holy
one. A holy one. I realize that the
world thinks of saints as the people of the Catholic Church
as sainted, and they had a surplus of good works, and they could
make them saints, and they could even help you out with some of
their good works and get you out of purgatory with some of
their extra righteousness that they'd amassed. That has absolutely
nothing to do with what the scripture teaches. A saint is a holy one. If I'm sanctified, that means
I'm a saint. And the word holy or saint means
set apart, other. There's no sin in a saint. There's no sin in a saint. He has a completely holy nature
without sin. Now, He still has a sinful nature,
but in this new holy nature, He has no sin. Now, to be a saint means to be
set apart to holiness. Ephesians 1, 4, according as
He hath chosen us in Him, that we should be holy. That's His
purpose in electing us. He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before Him. On Calvary's tree, Christ actually
sanctified us. We have just read that scripture.
By the witch will, we are sanctified once for all through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ. God said they're holy. And God
says they're holy. They're holy. Saint. It's the title of every believer.
Sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit, birthed by the Spirit of God,
given a holy nature by the Spirit of God, having a life that was
not there before. A saint. We're bound to thank
God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. and belief of the truth. And
I really believe sanctification. Most preachers, when I hear them
talking about sanctification, all they talk about it is in
a behavioral way. Your sanctification is how you
live, how you conduct yourself. And the Bible speaks of election
as sanctification, set apart to be holy. It speaks of redemption
as sanctification. Christ redeemed us and caused
us to be holy. And it speaks of regeneration
as sanctification, given a holy nature. So when preachers talk
about sanctification in a behavioral way, they're not really giving
the meaning of the scripture of this glorious term. Now, most
religious people believe in what is called progressive sanctification. You've probably heard that term.
You progressively become more and more holy and less and less
sin. Now, it's a struggle. It takes
a long time for it to happen. And you go throughout all your
life progressively becoming a little bit more sanctified, a little
less sinful. That's progressive sanctification. Now, there's a bunch of problems
with that. a bunch of problems with it. First, the Bible doesn't
teach that. That ought to settle it. The Bible does not teach that.
Secondly, if you believe in progressive sanctification, you have to deny
two natures, a perfectly holy nature and a nature that is nothing
but sinful. If you believe in progressive
sanctification, the natural outcome of it is it's possible to become
perfectly sanctified if you get more and more sanctified and
less and less sinful. And it's a denial of total depravity
because it says that through grace your flesh gets better,
gets a little bit more holy, a little bit less sinful. Now
the Bible doesn't teach anything like that. It doesn't teach progressive
sanctification. Now when someone Talks like this,
like you can become more holy and less sinful, they betray
the fact they don't know what holiness is in the first place.
Holiness does not know any degrees. You either are holy or you're
not. You don't become more holy, you
don't become less holy. Holiness is a state of being. It's being birthed by the Spirit
of God. It's being set apart by God the
Father. It's being redeemed by Christ Jesus. And Paul is writing
to the saints. And every believer here, you're
a saint of God. You're a holy one of God. You're
one of His holy ones. Every single believer. And then,
he speaks of the faithful, the saints, and the faithful in Christ
Jesus. And that word faithful what it
means is you believe and you can be believed. It's that simple. You believe and you can be believed. We read in Revelation chapter
17 verse 14 that Christ is called the Lord of lords and the King
of kings and they that are with him are called chosen and faithful. Now, first of all, in this thing
of being faithful, I believe. I do. I'm a believer. I believe.
Do you know I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? I believe
that the Bible is an inspired word of God. I believe that his
righteousness is the only righteousness and his it's I'm trusting to
be accepted because of his righteousness. I believe that he actually put
away sin. Hebrews 1 3 says when he had
by himself purged our sins. I believe he did it. I believe
he put him away. That's what I rejoice in. I believe
every believer is somebody who believes they believe the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am relying on him to save me. I believe he's able to save me.
That's all my salvation. I believe the gospel. That's
the evidence that I'm saved. I believe the gospel. Believers
believe. That's what the faithful are,
the people who actually believe the gospel. We believe the mysteries
of the scripture. We might not understand them,
but we believe them exactly as God states them. And we're fine
with that. And a believer is someone who
can be believed. Now, what do I mean by that?
Does a believer always tell the truth? You know better than that.
As soon as you get caught at something, did you do it? No,
I didn't do it. I mean, that's just people's natural, they're
going to lie about it. And that's a little lie, you
know, it's not a, it's not a big lie. It's just the way people,
I remember I heard somebody once say, you only lie when you have
to. Well, that's not right. I mean, but do I look ugly? Yes. No, don't say that. I mean,
there's times where it's better to kind of, you know, that's
just being nice. But if somebody doesn't confess,
I'm nothing but sin in and of myself. If they don't make that
confession and believe it, they're not believable to me. I don't
trust them. I don't believe them. They're
being dishonest. They're not honest people. You
can't believe. The only person you can believe is the person
who confesses what Paul says in Romans chapter seven. When I would do good, evil is
present with me. Now I believe that person. I
believe what they say. Somebody that's not like that,
they're not believable, and I don't trust them any further than I
can throw them. If somebody comes in any other way than that, they're
not those who are the faithful in Christ Jesus. Now Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God to the saints, which
are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, grace be to
you and peace. God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, Paul was divinely instructed
to write this, and this is not just hyperbole. He says, grace
to you from God the Father, peace to you from God the Father, grace
to you from the Lord Jesus Christ, peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if he says grace, to me. You know what I'm gonna have?
Peace. Grace and peace. Now this, in
all of his epistles, he opens with this grace and peace. Wherever you have grace, you're
gonna have peace. Note the order. It's not peace
and grace. but grace and peace. If you and I really believe grace,
we're going to experience peace, the peace of God that passes
all understanding. Now, if you believe in works,
you're not going to have any peace. If you look to yourself,
you're not going to have any peace. But if you believe grace,
only in believing grace will you experience this peace of
God. Oh, what a wonderful feeling
peace is. And the only time I have peace is when I know that salvation
is all together by grace. Now we don't have to strain to
figure out what Paul meant by grace. Look at Ephesians chapter
two. Here's what Paul meant by grace. But God, you are by nature, the
children of wrath, just like everybody else in Ephesians chapter
two, verse three, the last phrase, but God, Not that you turned
it around, but God. Not that you accepted what was
offered, but God, who is rich in mercy for His great love wherewith
He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. And here's the parenthetical
statement that will explain that. By grace you are saved. God's grace is saving grace. God's grace is always saving
grace. Electing grace. I love election. Glorifies God and gives me hope.
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. My good works Don't cause Him to choose me. Do not
cause Him to choose me. My evil works don't prevent Him to. It
has nothing to do with me. It's by grace, the election of
grace, redeeming grace, being justified through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, being justified freely by grace through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus, calling grace, justifying
grace. life-giving grace, preserving
grace, glorifying grace that makes it to where I'm actually
glorified right now in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm
not as sure for heaven as if I'm already there. I'm there.
If Christ is there, I am too. Now, that's grace. And what comes
out of grace? Peace. Peace. The only way I have peace is
if salvation is entirely by grace. And if you give me one thing
that I need to complete in order for it to work, I have no peace. But if you tell me that salvation
is completely by grace, I love what Paul said. We read in 2
Corinthians 12 where he talked about being brought into the
third heaven and taught the gospel. Let's go there. 2 Corinthians
12. I've already read these first
five verses, let's pick up in verse 6. For though I would desire to
glory, I shall not be a fool. For I'll say the truth, but now
I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which
he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me. And lest I should
be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations
there was given to me. Who gave it to him? God did.
There was given to me a thorn in the flesh. Now a thorn in
the flesh is extremely painful, extremely uncomfortable, but
it's not going to kill you. It's not going to kill you. God
gave it. the messenger of Satan to buffet
me, to strike me, to beat me black and blue, lest I should
be exalted above measure. Now, this thorn in the flesh,
nobody knows what it is and we don't need to know, but it kept
Paul from glorying in the way God was using him. It just knocked
him backwards all the time. He said it was the messenger
of Satan to beat me black and blue. For this thing I besought
the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. Lord, take this
thorn away. I can't bear it. Take this thorn
away. And he said to me, notice he
didn't say no. He didn't say no. What did he
say? My grace is sufficient for thee. Paul. You're going to have to
be satisfied to be saved by sheer free grace. You're not going
to be able to glory in any of the things that I've used you
for. You're not going to be able to
glory in the revelations. You're not going to be able to
glory in your understanding of the mysteries. You're going to
have to be satisfied to be saved by sheer free grace. My grace, my grace is sufficient for thee. Are you satisfied to be saved
by grace? For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities and reproaches and necessities and persecutions
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I'm weak, then am I
strong. Now, somebody doesn't preach
sovereign grace, electing grace, redeeming grace, justifying grace,
regenerating grace. Faith giving grace. Repentance
giving grace. Life giving grace. Salvation
by grace. Somebody that doesn't preach
yet doesn't preach gospel. Now Paul said grace to you. And what comes as a result of
grace? Peace. Peace. Salvation by grace. Peace. God's at peace with me.
He's not looking for me to do something. work out things and
make it complete. And I'm at peace knowing that
salvation really is by the free, it's a but God. Not that you
did anything, but God. That's a good definition of grace,
isn't it? But God. Now, if salvation is by grace,
we have peace, don't we? Now we're going to consider verses
three through 14 next Sunday night. And then after we look
at that, we're going to go and look at some of those things
in that passage of scripture, just a single part at a time.
Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you that you've
given us your word and preserved it in the divine authority of
the scriptures, that we don't have to look to what a man says,
but we look to what you have said. Lord, how we thank you
that you've made every one of your people saints and faithful
in Christ Jesus. How we thank you for our standing
in Christ Jesus, and how we thank you for your grace that results
in this wonderful peace. Now, Lord, bless this message
for your glory and our good, and we ask that you would bless
the study of this book for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Would you stand and turn to hymn
number seven?