Would you turn back to Ephesians
chapter 1, please? Now, I'd like to read verses
3 through 14 of Ephesians chapter 1. I was surprised, looking back
over my notes, I've referred to this passage of Scripture
many times, but I've not preached on it since 1995. I was amazed
by that. That's a long time ago without
preaching on this passage of Scripture. And in these verses,
we have three sentences, and each sentence deals with the
work of the Trinity in salvation. the work of the Father, the work
of the Son, and the work of the Holy Spirit. Now let's read these
verses together. Verse 3, Paul says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him, in love 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, wherein
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace, wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times 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 also we have
obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory,
who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted after
that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after that you believed you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance into
the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of
his glory. Back on American Avenue some
20 years ago, Brother Joe Terrell was preaching for us. And I remember
this statement from this particular message. I don't remember what
he was preaching on, but I remember how he introduced the message.
He said, I want us to revel in our salvation. I wonder if anybody
remembers that. Anybody remember that statement?
I want us to revel in our salvation. Webster gives this meaning to
the word revel, to feast with joyous merriment. That sounds
attractive, doesn't it? To feast with joyous It is my
prayer that we will experience a feast of joyous merriment right
now by His grace. Yes, we have troubles. We have
trials. We have heartaches. We have things
that make us feel heavy, sad. We wonder about. But the reality of this blessing,
he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus. The reality of this blessing
makes us say with Paul, for our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, it's temporary. worketh for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. Now, the first thing that comes
to my mind when I look at this passage of Scripture, am I one
of the people that he's blessed? That's what I want to know. Now,
I want to know if you are, too. But the first one I'm concerned
about is myself. I want to know if I'm in this
group where Paul says he hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Am I one of
them? Would it be presumptuous of me? Would I be presuming to
take this promise to myself? Can I read these glorious blessings
and say, these are for me? Now, if I can, I can have this
feast of joyous merriment. May God give us grace to see
if this is for us. I don't want to presume. You
see, God's blessing is not for everybody. It's for believers.
If it was for everybody, then it would be meaningless, wouldn't
it? Because many of the people for whom he has blessed, it doesn't
save them. That's not going to do anybody
any good. I want to know if this blessing is for me. Now, he describes
who he's writing to. when he says he's writing to
the saints which are at Ephesus, the sanctified ones, the ones
the Father has set apart, the ones the Son has redeemed, the
ones God the Holy Spirit has given a new nature to. And he
calls them the faithful in Christ Jesus. That means they believe
Christ. That's who this is for. But while I was sitting here
thinking about this passage of scripture, just when I was setting
up, this came to me. I was thinking about it. Is this
for me? Well, here's the way I can answer that. Do I need
what's being said? Do I need these blessings that
he mentions to save me? Am I in need, for instance, of
him to elect me? Am I in need of Him to make me
holy? Am I in need of Him to make me
blameless? Am I in need of Him to cause
me to be accepted in the Beloved? Am I in need of these things? Am I in need of Him to redeem
me and put away my sins? Am I in need of the Holy Spirit
to give me life and cause me to believe? Am I needing these
things? Now, if I need these things,
they are for me. As to their for, those who need. Now, let's start in verse three. He says in Ephesians one, verse
three, blessed. Be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. In heaven is what that word literally
is in heaven. In Christ Jesus. Now notice the
word hath. I like this word. Not he will
bless us. He hath. That means he's already
done it. If we have these blessings, we
possess already every single one of them. Now that's a reason
for joyous merriment, isn't it? That's a feast of fat things,
wine on the leans, well refined. We have these blessings. He hath blessed us. And notice the next word, with
all spiritual blessings. Not most, not a whole lot, but
every spiritual blessing God has to give, the believer possesses
right now. All, A-double-L, all spiritual
blessings. And notice the word spiritual
blessing. Temporal blessings are just that,
temporary. Now, I'm thankful for temporal
blessings, aren't you? I'm thankful for them. I'm thankful for this
nice building we had to meet in. I'm thankful for a car to
drive. I'm thankful for heat and air conditioning and good
food and running water. All these temporal blessings.
I'm thankful for my health. I'm thankful for my well-being.
I'm thankful that I'm able to think straight right now. That
might be taken from me tomorrow. I'm thankful for temporal blessings.
I'm thankful for my friends. I'm thankful for my family. But
those blessings are temporary. And when it comes right down
to it, I don't have to have that kind of blessing. Now, I'm thankful
for it. And I don't want to be without
it, but I don't have to have it. But I have to have these
spiritual blessings or I'll spend eternity in hell. That's how
necessary these are. He speaks of these spiritual
blessings which are eternal. And notice he says he's blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. These blessings
are so complete that we're already in heaven. Somebody says, it
doesn't feel like we're already in heaven. I know that. It doesn't
feel like we're already in heaven. I sure don't feel that way. But
look what God's Word says in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6.
It says, He raised us up together. When Christ was raised up, I
was too, and made us sit together. in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. Now, being united to Christ,
if He's in heaven, I'm there with Him. And that's how secure
I am. And that's how real these blessings
are. These spiritual blessings that
He's blessed us in heavenly places. And note the word, in Christ
Jesus. All that God has for the sinner
is in Christ. What do I mean by that? What if every blessing God had
to give was found in this room? And outside of this room, there
was nothing but the wrath of God. Where would you want to
be? You'd want to be in this room,
wouldn't you? If you believe that. If you believe that all
of God's favor All of God's blessing is in this place. You wouldn't
want to be anywhere else. And if you really believe that
all of God's blessing, all of God's favor is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, you do not want to be anywhere else. You say with Paul,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him. That is the very desire of your
heart. Now, He goes on to enumerate
what these blessings are in verse four. He says, according. Here's
the first spiritual blessing, according as he has chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. Is it a blessing
to be elect? What a blessing. Who chose who? He chose us. When was this choice
made? Somebody says, well, He chose
us when we believed. No, this choice was made before
the foundation of the world. Thank God for election. Why did He make this choice? Why would He choose me? Well,
to the praise of the glory of His grace, Would your salvation,
let me ask you a question, would your salvation glorify His grace?
If He saves you, would it magnify His free grace? You can answer
that question. How did He choose us? In Christ. According as He has chosen us
in Him, before the foundation of the world. I love election
I love the God of election. I love what election teaches
me. It teaches me that God's on the throne, that He's controlling,
and salvation's all by grace. Don't you love that? What a blessing
to be chosen of God. He says in verse 4, according
as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy. Now, He didn't choose us because
we were holy. He chose us that we should be
holy. And if He chose me to be holy,
you know what? I'm holy. Holy in Christ. He is my holiness. And if He
chose me to be holy, I am holy. You see, His will is so supreme
that whatever He wills, He is. And if He chose me to be holy,
I am holy. He chose us to be holy. What's
holy mean? I love the definition of other.
Other. That's a good definition of holiness.
He's other. He's other. And if you're holy,
you're like him. He chose us that we should be
holy and next without blame. I always, I wish it wasn't like
this, but I always have a cloud of guilt over my head about something.
I've heard a preacher once say, I never feel guilty. And I thought,
man, I wish I was like that. I always do. I think I've got
a greater touch of it than just about anything. I don't know
if it's the way I was raised. I don't know what it is. I'm always feeling
bad about something. Why am I asking that? I have
no reason to feel bad about something. I shouldn't say because I was
raised. No, because I'm a sinner. Do you know what this scripture
tells me? Before God, I am right now, present tense, without blame. Now, is that a blessing you can
revel in and rejoice in? Without blame, before Him. And what I am before Him is what
I am. Without blame, before Him. In love, he says in verse 4 and
5, In love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. In love. You know, the Lord said
in John chapter 17, verse 23, He said, Thou hast loved them.
Speaking of every believer. Talk about me. Talk about every
believer. Thou hast loved them. as thou
hast loved me." That's a hard thing to get hold of, isn't it?
God loves you with the same love he has for his son? We wouldn't
believe that if the Bible didn't tell us that. But that's what
the Lord said. Thou hast loved them. As thou
hast loved me, and I think of the father's love to his son.
He looks at his son and he's pleased with him. He sees his
son as lovely and acceptable and beautiful and glorious. And
he's just well pleased with his son. He just looks at his son
and he's pleased. Who can describe that? The way
it ought to be described, the father's love to the son. It's
not an unconditional love. It's a completely conditional
love. The Lord Jesus Christ deserves the love of his Father. He's
altogether lovely. The Father looks at him and loves
him. And that's the way God the Father
loves every believer without exception. In love, Having predestinated
us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Now,
here's what predestination means. God looked at his son. And he
was so well pleased, and he said, I'm going to have a bunch more
exactly like him. And that's what predestination
is. Well, do you believe every event is predestinated? Yeah,
I do. I do, I do believe, I have, I
know it, God's in control of everything. You know, Proverbs
16.33 says the lot is cast into the lap, that's what we think
of as luck. The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing
thereof is of the Lord. Everything is controlled by Him,
He's God. But that's not what predestination
is about. Predestination is not about events, but persons being
predestined to be exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that wonderful? And you know, if God has predestined you to
be just like Christ, there's no way you can get messed up.
Whatever he wills must come to pass. I love predestination. Once again, I love the God of
predestination. And I love the end and the goal
of predestination is to make me perfectly conformed to the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be His adopted Son. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. What that means is He's my Father.
God the Father is my Father. I love when the Lord would say
to His disciples, He'd talk about your heavenly Father. Not just my Heavenly Father,
but your Heavenly Father. And He did all this according
to verse 5, according to the good pleasure of His will. I like the way that sounds, don't
you? Speaking of the will of God, the good pleasure of His
will. Now, what is the will? Well,
whatever we will is what we intend. It's what we purpose. It's what
we desire. And we have a will. There's a
lot of things I desire. There's a lot of things that
I would like to see come to pass. But you know what? I don't have
the power to make any of it come to pass. God does. He's got the power to make sure
his will always comes to pass. He said, can I not do what I
will with my own? Do I not have the ability to
do what I will with my own? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Now, he has the power to make
sure his will comes to pass. And I love the way he refers
to the good pleasure of his will. Now, the will of God. That's
a term religious people use all the time. But listen to this.
The will of God, first of all, is essential. What do I mean
by that? That means nothing takes place
without it. Whatever happened to you today, it was God's will. Period. He's in control. Now, what about the bad stuff
that do? Can I blame my sin on God's will
then? No, you can't. No, you can't. But it's still true. Whatever
happens, his will is the first cause behind it. Now, that gives
me some joy. It gives me some peace. I would be so wretched if I didn't
really believe that God is the first cause behind everything. That's who he is. And his will
is supreme. When he wills something, it is. When he wills something, it becomes
past tense before it even takes place. That's how supreme his
will is. His will is eternal. Ephesians
311 speaks of the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. And his will is immutable. It
never changes. God doesn't try something and
that doesn't work. And so he said, OK, I'll try
this. No, he's the Lord's not a man that he should repent or
the son of man that he should repent. I'm the Lord. He said,
I change not. That's why you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. His will is immutable. His will
is efficacious. That means it cannot be thwarted.
Daniel 435 says he'd do it. according to his will in the
armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth." Those
people right down here. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, what doest thou? No one can call him into question
for what he's doing. His will is causeless. You know
what that means? That means no cause outside of
himself. I love that passage of scripture
where the Lord said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because you've hid these things from the wise and
prudent and revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so
it seemed good in thy sight. And that's his only reason for
doing what he does. It seems good in his sight. And his will is sovereign. He
has mercy on whom he will have mercy. Indeed, this is the good
pleasure of his will. Now let's go on reading. Verse
5, 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. Here's why he does
what he does. The praise of the glory of his
grace. Now I think it's very interesting
that in these three sentences they end with, to the praise
of His glory. To the praise of His glory. To
the praise of His glory. God the Father does what He does,
to the praise of His glory. God the Son does what He does,
to the praise of His glory. God the Spirit does what He does,
to the praise of His glory. That is why He does what He does. I love it the way he says he's
saved to the praise of the glory of His grace, because I know
this. I'm so sure of this. When I'm brought into glory, it's going to glorify and magnify
His grace. There won't be any works on my
part to give any glory. There won't be anything about
me that would say, well, He saved him because of something in him.
No. I'll be saved to the praise of the glory of His grace. wherein he hath made us accepted
in the Beloved." Now, that word accepted is literally, he graced
us. He made us accepted in the Beloved. Now, I love to think about how
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ is of the Father. The Father
looks at His Son and is well He looks at the Son and the acceptability
of His person, and He says, I'm pleased with Him. Accepted. Now, I'm accepted in the Beloved. How accepted am I? However accepted
He is. And this is an acceptance that's
not enhanced by my good works. It's not diminished by my bad
works. It's an acceptance that cannot be improved, nor cannot
be marred. That's not affected by the best
about me, and it's not hindered by the worst about me. This acceptance
is in the Beloved. In the Beloved accepted am I. Now, what a blessed acceptance. All God requires of me I have
in the Beloved. All the beauty and acceptance
of Christ is mine. That's how much God pleased with
me. I'm accepted in the Beloved. Now, can you revel in that? This
is a feast of joyous merriment to be accepted in the Beloved. Verse 7, now he's going to talk
about the work of the Son, in whom In the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace. Notice the word have.
We've got it. We've got it. Redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. Now, whenever you hear the word
redemption spoken by the world, what does it mean? Well, he started
off bad, but it's a story of redeeming himself. He fought
against the odds, and he came back and became a better person,
and he overcame his circumstances, and it's a story of redemption.
Now, does that have anything to do with what the Bible means
by the term redemption? No, not at all. You see, in that
view, redemption comes at the end. He did all this stuff, and
now it's a story of redemption. But in the Gospel, redemption
begins and forgiveness begins. Everything begins right up front.
Salvation doesn't end with the forgiveness of sins. It begins
with the full, complete forgiveness of sins. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. And this is according to the
riches of his grace. Verse 8, wherein, according to
the riches of his grace, he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence. Where sin abounded, what happened? In the place that sin abounded,
would that place be you? In that very place, grace did
much more abound. He hath abounded to us the riches
of his grace. And I love this term in all wisdom
and prudence. I never really thought about
this much. Wisdom. Oh, the wisdom of God. He has
made a way to be just and justify me. And this is real. And that
word prudence, practical wisdom. He's found a way to execute this. Everything he does, he has the
wisdom and the ability to execute. He made it to where everything
is working together for my good and his glory, and he is determined
by salvation. What wisdom and what prudence
he demonstrates in our salvation. Having, verse 9, having made
known unto us The mystery of his will, according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in himself. Now, do you hear what
that says? It says he made known to us the mystery of his will. Now, the mystery of his will
is a will we wouldn't have known unless he made it known. But
listen to me. I know the will of God. Somebody says that's
presumptuous to say something like that. No, it's not. Not
if he's made it known to me. Our Lord said in John 6, 38,
I came down from heaven not to do my own will. But the will
of Him that sent me, and this is the will of Him that sent
me, that all which He hath given me 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 that seeth the Son and believeth
on Him should have everlasting life." Now, I know God's will.
I know it's God's will for everyone that Christ died for to be saved.
I know that for sure. And I know for sure that it's
God's will for everyone who looks to Christ, sees Him as their
only way of salvation. It's His will for them to be
saved. I know the will of God. That's not presumption. That's
the truth. He made known to us. Now, I want you to think about
this. The Lord made known to you what is most precious to
Himself. He didn't hold you off. He made
known to you what is most precious to himself. Having made known
to us the mystery of his will, which he purposed in himself,
verse 10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he
might gather together in one all things in Christ. Both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him. This is talking about our union
with Christ. It's going to be realized He's
going to gather together all things in one. This is the believer's
future. In whom, verse 11, we have obtained
an inheritance. What an inheritance I have. I am a joint heir with Jesus
Christ. Now, that's an inheritance. Thinking of this inheritance
that I have and that I'm going to experience when I die. Now,
everybody, to some extent, is afraid of death. I realize that.
Afraid of the unknown. You haven't experienced death,
so it makes you nervous. But if what this passage of scripture
is saying is true, and it is, I'm accepted in the beloved.
I look forward to death. That's when I'm going to receive
the fullness of my inheritance, and there's nothing here that
can compare to that. Now, I'm thankful for life as
we know it, but I look forward to receiving the fullness of
my inheritance. And it's sure because it says
being predestinated. This inheritance is predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. And there's the Lord Jesus in
him. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
sins. We have the revelation of God's
will, and we have an eternal inheritance. Now verse 12, that
we, this is, now we're going to talk about the work of the
Holy Spirit, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who
first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted, after that
you heard the word of truth, in whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance into the redemption of the purchased
possession under the praise of His glory. Now, verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in
Christ. Now, what's Paul talking about
there? He talks about that one who first trusted in Christ,
and he said, you fellas trusted also afterwards. Now, what's
his reference to that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ? Is Paul saying that we, the believers,
the apostles, were the first people to trust in Christ? No,
he's not saying that at all. David trusted Christ before Paul
did. Abraham trusted Christ before Paul did. Abel trusted Christ
before Paul did. Those fellows trusted Christ. I believe this means that when
God the Father gave us to God the Son in the eternal covenant
of grace, He completely trusted his son to save us. He was the
first one to trust Christ. Now, I believe we're given a
beautiful illustration of what this means in Genesis chapter
42 and 43. It's the story of Benjamin. Do
you remember when Benjamin, Joseph said, you're going to have to
bring Benjamin back down? They didn't know who Joseph was.
He said, you're going to have to bring Benjamin back down or you won't
get any food. And so they run out of food,
and it's time to bring Benjamin back down. They knew they had
to do it. So Reuben, you remember what scripture says about Reuben?
Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel. Reuben said, let me
bring Benjamin down. Let me be responsible for it.
And if I don't bring him back, you can kill my two sons. That's
awful, isn't it? I mean, just he told, why didn't
he say you can kill me? No, he said my two sons. You know, I
mean, Reuben, unstable as water. And you know what Jacob said
to Reuben? He said, he's not going down with you. I do not
trust you to take care of my son. He did not trust Reuben. But you know who he did trust?
Judah. Remember, Christ Jesus is the
Lion of the tribe of Judah. Now, here's what Judah said.
Judah said, Send the lad with me, I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not before thee,
and set him before thee, let me bear the blame for ever. And old Jacob trusted Judah to
take care of Benjamin. And God the Father trusted the
Lord Jesus Christ to save me. He's the first one who trusted
Christ. In whom you also trusted. You trust him too, don't you?
The Father trusted him for your salvation. You trust him for
your salvation. In whom, verse 13, you also trusted. After that, you heard the word
of truth. You heard. You heard the gospel
with hearing ears. He that hath ears to hear, let
him hear. You are heard with hearing ears.
And you didn't just hear words, you heard the word of truth.
You heard the gospel of your salvation. Now, here's what you
hear when you hear the gospel of your salvation. You find out
you've been saved. You find out that Christ saved
you. That's what you find out. You don't say, well, if I do
this, I'll be saved. You find out that He saved you. You hear the gospel of your salvation. And indeed, this is gospel, in
whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, after that you
believed or having believed, you were sealed. with that Holy
Spirit of promise. You were sealed, preserved, having
been born of the Spirit, the one who was promised in the eternal
covenant, which is, God the Holy Spirit is the earnest, the down
payment, the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption
of the purchased possession, and I may, just like Christ,
do the praise of His glory. Now, at the redemption of the
purchased possession, I will be in conscious awareness of
perfect conformity to Jesus Christ. And that will be to the praise
of His glory. Now may the Lord enable us to revel in this feast of joyous
merriment. When we hear the gospel like
this, I hope we don't just hear it and ascend to it and agree
with it and say, yeah, that's what I believe. I hope it goes
a whole lot farther than that. I hope it's a feast of joyous
merriment. Let's pray.