This morning we're gonna be in the book of Ephesians, if you would like to turn there, follow along. Book of Ephesians. Ephesians chapter one. All men by nature cannot come to the conclusion, the proper conclusion, about who God is about his power, about his sovereignty, about his purpose. about Christ, about the gospel. You can't come to the conclusion by nature about what we are as sinners, as mercy-begging sinners, as dead dog sinners. Most of the time, the conclusion is drawn that men have a will, they have a power that's great enough to prevent God from doing something or to allow God to do something, and that's not true. He's not constrained or restrained by human force or human power or human will. He's God. He's the creator of human beings. He says in Romans chapter nine, shall the thing say to the creator, the one that created, why has thou made me thus? Hath not the power potter over the clay to make one lump to honor and another lump to dishonor? And so it is with our God. He's sovereign. over all things, especially human beings. That's all inclusive. Normally I don't do this, but before we read our text, I want you to turn with me to Isaiah 44. Because we have sufficient evidence all throughout the scripture of our Lord's character, of our Lord's nature, of his power, of his purpose, even from the Old Testament all the way through the New. And he says in Isaiah 44, look at verse 24 with me. Isaiah 44, 24 says, thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb. I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. I like that by myself part, don't you? I am the one that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself, that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backwards, and maketh their knowledge foolish, that cup that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers, that saith the Jerusalem thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. Now look down in chapter 45, look at verse four. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name, I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me. that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light. Here's something you won't hear in false religion. I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Somebody says, how did the Lord create evil? He removes his presence. That's all he has to do. He removes his presence. Drop down, ye heavens, from above and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them bring forth salvation. Let the righteous spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Woe unto them that striveth with his maker. Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, why makest thou? What makest thou, or thy work, he hath no hands? Woe unto him that saith unto his father, what begattest thou? Or to the woman, what hast thou brought forth? This is who our God is. He's not a puppet. He's not dependent upon us. He's not looking for our approval or our permission for anything. He's literally, totally, absolutely sovereign. Here he says in verse 11, thus saith the Lord, the Holy one of Israel and his maker asked me of things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. I have made the earth and created man upon it. I, even my own hands have stretched out the heavens and all their hosts have I commanded. I have raised up In righteousness, and I will direct all his ways, he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the Lord of hosts." See, this is the declaration of his character, of his isness, of what he has accomplished, what he is. He's saying simply, I'm the one that created men. with my own hands, I'm going to do with them as I choose to do with them. Men hate that. Men hear that and say, no, that can't be right. We have to have some sort of power and control of our own destiny. And the Lord says, no. No, I'll create darkness. How do you create darkness? You remove the light. How do you create evil? You remove the Lord's presence. You remove His goodness away from it. That's the absence of Him. The Lord does all these things however He chooses to do them. And you and I, You and I are the benefactors of His grace in Christ Jesus. We've been made to see Him as Lord and Savior. That's the good news of the gospel. Now go back with me to Ephesians chapter one. That's kind of the intro to this message. I wanted us to see that because so many times I can tell us that the Lord is sovereign and we believe that and know it's true, but to see it written black and white, I mean, this is not something that we've come up with on our own. This is the revelation that the Lord has to give to His people and He must do this by grace. Now does this, does the God that I just, the God that I just described to you, there's only one, our God, does that sound anything like a puny God to you? Does that sound like a weak God or an incapable God, incompetent God, a frustrated God? Or does that sound like a sovereign creator and sustainer? He's seated. And I love the fact the scripture says he reigneth. I mean, it's ever continual. There's never a time he's taken off guard. And I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but that's okay. He's never, he doesn't have to do, well, let me put it to you this way. If our Lord wills it, it's so. If he wills it, it's so. If he thinks it, it comes to pass. He spoke light. out of darkness. Can we understand the immense magnitude of him? Of course not, but we can certainly declare it and hope that the Lord gives us that revelation. The truth of the matter is men's been lying on God from the beginning. They followed after Satan's lie. He said, I want to ascend above the heavens. I want to be like the most high. He followed after that same lie because it was a charming to the flesh to be God. And they continue to say, we are our own God. Well, how do they say it now? They say, well, you have to make your choice. You have to make your decision. You have to do this. You have to do this. And the Lord Jesus said, it is finished. The work is finished. I'm thankful that they are wrong about who God is. That salvation is of the Lord. Let's read this Ephesians chapter one, nine through 14. having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he hath 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's just an echo of what Isaiah just said, isn't it? that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession unto the praise of His glory." Multiple times in this text we are told that everything pertaining to God and salvation is all by His purpose. It's by His design. It's on purpose. Meaning, salvation's not an accident. Salvation's not a happenstance. Salvation's not based upon chance or circumstance. Salvation is of the Lord, by Him, by His power, according to His purpose. That's what I've titled the message this morning, The Purpose of God. The Purpose of God. Listen to what Isaiah 14 says, the Lord of hosts hath sworn saying, surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. Surely as I have thought. So were you telling me all he has to do is think and it happens? Yes. Yes. All he has to do is speak and it happens. All he has to do a will it that happens. He's God. He's God. And the most amazing part, getting ahead of myself, but the most amazing part is he chose to become a man. Our infinite, eternal God chose to become a man, the Lord Jesus Christ, manifest in the flesh, the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and God died for his people. That is beyond comprehension to me, because, well, our brains can't comprehend that, but we believe it because it's true, and it's our only hope. It's our only hope. Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, surely I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and I have purposed So shall it stand, for the Lord of hosts hath purpose, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? Our God just thinks and it happens. Our God just wills it and it's so. Yet a majority of men are lied to and they are believing the lie. that God is limited in his power, that God's purpose can be halted, or God's purpose can be altered, or God's purpose can be changed, that salvation is entirely dependent upon you and entirely dependent upon me. But the Lord said, fear not, Jacob. I've redeemed you. I've called you by your name. You're mine. When did he do that? When he just told us in Isaiah, I formed you in the womb. From the time you were conceived, I knew you. Matter of fact, before time ever began, I knew you. How long has he known his people? From everlasting to everlasting. There's never been a time where he has not seen his people inside of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our God. This is his salvation. And that was his purpose. That was his purpose, the salvation of his people. I want us to ask ourself a question this morning. Do we rest, and be honest with yourself, do we rest in the purpose of the Lord entirely for our salvation? or are we looking to something we have done or something we are doing or not doing? That's life and death. That's life and death. Are we looking to what the Lord has done on the cross of Calvary? Are we looking to his finished work? Or are we looking to self? Most people would say, oh no, I'm looking to Jesus. I'm looking to the Lord. But in reality, they're still clinging to something they have done or something they're not doing. Now, thankfully, the gospel strips us of our righteousness completely. We have no righteousness whatsoever, and it's revealed when the gospel is preached that God demands perfection. God demands 100% holiness and righteousness, and we can't merit that, nor can we produce that in and of ourself, but he did, and that's the good news of the gospel. We were weak and dead and trespasses and in sin, and the Lord, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. The Good News of Salvation. I wrote an article, and I think, I don't know if it was last week or the week before, but I wrote it, it said, there is no salvation outside of grace. And there is no grace where works are required as any part of salvation. There's no salvation outside of grace. Salvation is by grace alone. And there is no grace where works are required as any part of salvation. The Lord has made this so clear that if we're looking to ourself, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. But if we're looking to him, he's the doer of it and gets all the glory. Now, first, I want to remind us, and I've already started a little bit with this this morning, but I want to remind us of the isness of our Lord, the isness. He told Moses, I am, and that's what I'm speaking of whenever I say isness is his character. He's immutable. Immutable means he can't change. It doesn't mean that he has the ability to change and chose not to. It means he cannot change. This is something he cannot do. He cannot change. And the glorious part about that is, is because he cannot change, his attributes cannot change. That means his holiness cannot change. That means his righteousness cannot change. That means everything about him and his character cannot change. That's why he told Jacob, he said, fear not Jacob. He said, for I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. That's the whole reason why the Lord's people have hope is our Lord is unchangeable. What he demands or requires right now is what he's always required. That's good news. If you're a sinner and you see the Savior that he accepts. I love the thought that he's never learned anything new. Think about that. Who's going to teach him? Who's gonna teach her? I mean, that might sound like something silly to say, but if he is as limited as men say that he is, well, who's gonna teach God? Because if salvation's up to me, then somebody has to be smart enough to teach. That's just silly, isn't it? Nobody's taught him anything. He knows everything all the time. What is there to learn that he doesn't know? There's nothing. He doesn't make mistakes. You know how many mistakes we've made already today? I made a mistake putting my shoe on this morning. You know, I mean, it just, it's nature. It's our nature. His nature is perfection in everything that he does. Why would he attempt something whenever he can guarantee it? He's God. And that's what the glorious part, this is his purpose. I'm still speaking about his purpose this morning. He purposed to redeem his people. And who's going to stop him? Who could prevent it? His goodness never changes. His mercies are renewed every morning, the scripture says. His faithfulness is unchangeable. I love the fact that he said, though we deny him, yet he will not deny us. That we believe not, he cannot deny himself. He cannot deny himself. He is faithful. And that faithfulness is not going to change. Aren't you glad he's not looking to your faithfulness? Aren't you glad he's not looking at my faithfulness? Most faithful person on the face of the earth, that's a believer. I'm glad he's not looking to their faithfulness on my behalf because it's not good enough. It's the Lord's faithfulness. That's unchangeable. One minute we may be faithful thinking about how rejoicing, worshiping, and then it's not even, it's the same day and we're not thinking about him anymore. Our faithfulness is so wavering, isn't it? It's that song we just sang, false and full of sin I am, thou art full of truth and grace. See his truth and his grace can't change. Everything about our God's immutable. Listen to Lamentations chapter three. This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. And you know what he says? Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Without Him being gracious, without Him choosing to show mercy on whom He will show mercy, without Him having a purpose to redeem a people, there is no salvation. There is no salvation. But because He is, His people are saved because of His purpose. Because of His purpose. And we see here in our text the inheritance that we have obtained. Look at verse 11, 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. When did he do that? Well, look at verse four, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. What did he choose us unto? That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's what he, This is what the purpose of our Lord is in the reason somebody said, well, what's the purpose of this world? Ever heard that before? What's the meaning of life? Have you ever heard anybody talk that way or even maybe thought it? I mean, there's been times in my life, maybe I felt that before I knew the truth. Once you know the truth, okay, I understand the purpose of everything now. It's all for his glory. I can't have any glory in this whole thing. It's all for his glory, according to his will, by his own purpose and grace. And here's the good news. It was given to his people before the world ever began that purpose and grace. God's purpose is unshakable. His purpose is always executed exactly as he purposed it to do. The outcome is certain. The outcome, aren't you thankful you and I can't mess up salvation? We can't even touch it because it's already sealed. That's what he was saying here, right here at verse 13. At the very end, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. I mentioned to you, we've been canning some things. We've been canning a lot more. And I know not to touch the can when it's sealing. I found that out the hard way. I touched it and it wouldn't seal. It's my fault. Got in trouble for that one. But the thing about this is the Lord did the work. The Lord did the entire work and he sealed his people with his Holy Spirit. He's the earnest of our inheritance. What's our inheritance? It's the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's holiness found in him. It's everything given to us in Christ. But this, we understand what earnest means. If you're buying a house, you have to give earnest money. It shows that you're serious about it. Well, the Holy Spirit is earnest of our inheritance. This is all his purpose. So in salvation, he chose to save a people. Then he chose to redeem them. And he did so. And then he chooses to regenerate his chosen people and sealing them until the day of redemption. And we can't mess it up. This is the purpose of God. That gives me hope because as I look at myself, as I examine myself, and I pray that we don't because anytime we do, Paul said this, trying to remember exactly how he said it, but telling us to look on the inward part, see if you be in the faith, examine yourself. Examine yourself, he said, see if you be in the faith. What does he mean by that? Are we to look at our life and how we're living? No, is there anything in you that you're looking at beside Christ Jesus for your righteousness? That's what he's saying. And that's the glorious part about God's gospel is he causes his people to look to him alone. This was his purpose. This was his purpose. Notice verse nine, his purpose is in himself. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. You know what that means? That means in order for his purpose to change, he'll have to change. He'll have to change and that's impossible. That means his purpose cannot change. What did the scripture tell us? Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's unchangeable. He's immutable. He's altogether other than we are. David said on his dying bed, his deathbed, although it be not so with my house, yet the Lord hath made with me an everlasting covenant. He told us that it's ordered in all things and it's sure. Well, that's his purpose, isn't it? That's the Lord's purpose. It's ordered all things and sure. Our Lord, when he said this is all my hope and all my salvation as well, but this is what he gives to his people, the revelation that salvation's of the Lord. It's all by his grace. He's unchangeable and therefore his purpose will come to, has come to pass. I mean, as far as he's concerned, it's finished. You and I just have to live out the time that he's allowed to unfold it. If you go back in the scripture and read everything, and I love this, it says, and it came to pass, and it came to pass, and it came, what does that mean? That means what the Lord had purposed, it happened. What about today? Well, today it came to pass that we met at Holy Grace Church, and we had service at 10 o'clock on October the 5th. Came to pass. Why? God purposed it. So it's not just, Salvation is the only thing God purposed. God purposed all things after the counsel of his own will. Why? For his glory, for his honor, for his praise, and for our good. And I love that. Our good, his glory. Can we say with David, that's all my hope and all my salvation, that covenant of grace, that everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Can we say that we're completely dependent upon his purpose? that we're completely dependent upon His grace, that we're completely dependent upon His mercy, or we're looking to ourself. It's that simple. Men and women will say that they believe in grace, and yet they'll listen to a preacher that will tell them something that they must do, and they'll cleave to that as part of their salvation, as evidence or as part of their salvation. May the Lord keep us, keep us looking to His purpose alone, His purpose alone. My question this morning is why is his purpose so amazing? Why is it all our hope and salvation? Because of our eternal, immutable, sovereign creator is the one that did the purposing. He's the one that did the purposing. Now, if you and I purpose something, as we do, oftentimes, we make plans, don't we? Whether it's a vacation, whether it's, you know, I gotta go to the grocery store, I'm gonna make a list. I've got a purpose to go to the grocery store, so I'm gonna make a list. I'm planning on getting what I need. How many times you've forgotten something whenever you get home? You're like, man, I meant to get that. See, when God purposes, it's not like you and I purposing something. When he purposes, it comes to pass. When he thinks it, it comes to pass. When he speaks it, it happens. He's not like us. He's nothing like us. Thank God he's nothing like us. Because if he was, he actually said that, he said, you thought I was altogether as one of you, such one of you. He's like, I'm not, I'm nothing like you. And we rejoice in that. The reason this salvation is so glorious is he became And I mean this in all reverence, but he became a creature of dust because that's what we are. In the likeness of sinful flesh, the scripture says, and poor sin condemns sin in the flesh. His purpose was to become what we are, to save a wretch like me and you, to save his chosen people from their sin. That is amazing that God, infinite. Now I want you to understand, if we can, he's infinite. And yet he became a man. He was the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He had all the power of God in the flesh because he was God. He had all the thoughts of God in the flesh because he was God. He had all the righteousness, all the holiness, all the truth, all the grace because he was God. And yet he humbled himself to the death of the cross. to save his people from their sin. I'm like David, when David said, such things are too wonderful for me, they are high, I cannot attain to them. What does that mean? Well, in our term, it would be it blows our mind. I can't understand all that, but I believe it. It's our only hope. This was his purpose. This was his purpose. Before time, God elected a people unto himself. And if you know the truth of the gospel and you profess and believe the gospel, you know this to be true. The people that he elected are like anybody else. They would have destroyed themselves forever if left to themselves. I know that to be true about me. And you know that to be true about you. If the Lord had left me to myself, I would have destroyed myself forever and ever. And guess who we would blame for that? God. There's no one in hell right now that's crying out for mercy. The rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment, seeing Lazarus afar off, being comforted in Abraham's bosom. He said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that I may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. His only concern was getting a drink of water. There's nobody in hell crying out for mercy. Hell itself is not enough to make a man believe. And that's what he told, he said, send Lazarus back to warn my brothers about this. He said, no, they have the law and the prophets. Let them hear them. They won't believe if one comes back from the dead. The men, they see something miraculous. They might get religious. We're seeing a moral reformation. That's not a bad thing. I mean, we'll be the benefactors for that. You don't want a moral decline in society. That's going to be more corruption, more violence, more this and that, wickedness. So moral reformation is not a bad thing. But it has nothing to do with salvation. Nothing. Nothing whatsoever. salvations of the Lord, salvations according to His purpose. And if He doesn't come to you, if He doesn't come to me and make us cry out, have mercy on me, the sinner, we'll never cry out for mercy. We'll never cry out for mercy. According to our Lord's purpose, He predestinated each one of His elected people to be conformed to the image of His Son. He predestinated them to an inheritance. And we know in another place, I think it's in Corinthians, He said, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. What is that inheritance? Oh, it's just, it's perfect righteousness. It's holiness. It's justification, sanctification, glorification. What is the inheritance with him? We reign with him. I don't know what that means, but we know we're in him seated in the heavenlies. I'm pretty sure we're not going to be the ones giving orders. So I don't, I don't think reigning in the, in the regard of a, of a dictator is what, what they mean by that. I believe that we'll be. resting in him. And as he reigns, we'll be reigning with him because we're resting in him. I believe that's what that means. In order for this glorious purpose, the only way sinners can be saved to come to pass is a sacrifice had to be made, a perfect sacrifice. Blood had to be shed. The scripture is clear. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. But who's worthy to offer themselves to God? Am I worthy? Are you worthy? What would we offer? He told his disciples, if I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. I wouldn't ask you. He owns everything. He owns everything. What would we give him that he doesn't already own? What can we produce that he's in need of? What does he desire from us that we could offer that would please him? I just told us about his attributes and there's no way I can tell us about all of them. We could talk about that all day and still not get all of them. He's too glorious. But the ones that we have heard about point and show us he's not in need of anything. He's not in need of anything. He doesn't need my heart. He doesn't want my heart. My heart's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He doesn't want me to make my choice because my choice will always be bound to my will, which is according to my flesh. So what does he want? He wants perfection. He wants holiness. He wants every attribute that he is in order to please him. And that's exactly who Jesus Christ is. Perfect, righteous, holy. The glorious part about it is substitution. When the Lord goes to the cross, when he went to the cross and he drank of the cup, our Lord, as our substitute surety, took our punishment, took our sin, took our guilt, took our shame. He suffered in our place, in our room instead. This was his purpose before time ever began, that the Son of God, Jesus Christ, would die in the place of those whom God had elected in order for them to be made the righteousness of God in him. His purpose was this, that you would be declared perfectly righteous before his law, that you would be declared as justified before his law, that you would be declared holy as he is right now in the inward man. That's how he sees his people because he sees them in Christ. You talk about a purpose. Who could have come up with the design of salvation but for God? It's amazing in our eyes. We know it. We believe it. And we go through our busy life, and we need to hear about it again. Because when we hear about it again, we stand in awe once again. What happens when I study? is I get the message first. So I'm rejoicing when I'm studying and then to deliver it is an impossible task. But the hope is that the Lord would let you see what he showed me. So I get it first, even if it's chastening or chastisement, whatever it may be, I get it first. So as I'm sitting there, I'm just shaking my head thinking, what a God that we serve. The Lord said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And he's the only one that he's pleased with. If you and I are not in Christ, he's not pleased with us. Here's the glorious part, those whom he foreknow he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. That means when he sees me, and he sees you, if he's given his faith to believe him, that means we're his. And that means he sees the blood and he sees us as worthy, not as unworthy. He sees us as clean, not as vile. He sees us as pure, not as wretched. He sees us as perfect, not sinners any longer. And we don't see it. He does. And the way God sees it, that's how it really is. What was his purpose? to redeem every single child that he elected in the covenant of grace. He did just that. Turn with me to Isaiah 53. For those who may believe that the cross was an attempt for something, ask yourself as we read this, why would the Lord do this to his darling son for just a chance of something. No human being would have done this to their children for a chance of something, unless they're possessed, but you understand what I'm saying. And knowing his power, his sovereignty, knowing his purpose now, listen to this. Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty in him, or there's no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, a man acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we esteemed him not. Now God in the flesh, had nothing that intrigued men. Absolute. Think about, and I say this often, but it's so true and it's mind boggling. How often did the Lord pass by people? How often did he interact with people? How often did he, uh, do many things in front of them? And yet they couldn't see him as God. They just saw him as a man. He didn't have anything that intrigued them. Matter of fact, if you go back to the old Testament and book of Samuel, whenever the King was going to be anointed, the very first King Saul, Samuel told the people, you have a king, it's God. God's your king. And he said, no, we want a king like everybody else. We want a man to sit upon a throne to rule and reign. And Saul was a big guy, according to the scripture. He would have been very appealing. This is our king, this big, muscular, intimidating guy. And yet the Lord chose to give them exactly what they wanted. Now, a lot of times, that's not good. We found that it wasn't good for Israel. Saul was not much of a king. He did all kinds of things, but the Lord raised up another king, didn't he? What did the Lord raise up? He raised up a little shepherd boy. that anointed him when he was a lad, 14, 16 years old, he said, you'll be the next king. Nobody thought, who is this David person? He's not going to be a good king, the best king they had. Maybe Solomon could have been in comparison to that, but you understand what I'm saying. What's my point? My point is, is that whenever Christ came, the men and women of that time did not see him as God. They couldn't, number one, because he is the one, by his own purpose, he has to reveal himself. But number two, he didn't set up an earthly kingdom. His purpose wasn't to set up a kingdom upon this earth. And he said this, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. Don't look at what you see on the outside. And that's what he told whenever Samuel was saying, he said, you look upon the stature of a man, God looks upon the heart. And if he's got the heart, David was a man after God's own heart. What does that mean? God gave him a new heart. That's what that means. Christ didn't have any appeal to the flesh whatsoever. This sovereign God that I've been mentioning this morning. And yet there was some that saw him as the Christ. Remember Simeon, Luke chapter 2? Whenever Joseph and Mary takes Jesus to the temple, he was just a baby. And Simeon, this is amazing. Simeon takes this little baby, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he says, now I can die because mine eyes have seen the salvation of the Lord. How did he know that that's who that was? God showed him that. God revealed that. What about Peter? The Lord said, who do men say that I am? They said, some say Isaiah, some say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And the Lord said, blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. Our God is sovereign over salvation and everything else in between. Our God purposes to reveal himself to whom he will. Therefore, he's beautiful in our eyes. Once you see him, you see how ugly you are. That's the reason people hate the gospel, because it reveals their ugliness. It reveals our sin, our wickedness. Shows us that we're not good enough before God. But when you see Christ, oh, there's the remedy. There's the salvation. There's my need right there. Let's read four through nine. Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. and the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers as dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison from judgment and who shall declare his generation for he was cut off of the land of the living for the transgression of my people was he stricken and he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Only a perfect, sinless lamb could have pleased God. And every attribute that we've been talking about this morning was in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was his person. It was his character. It was his nature. It's who he was. And he was that sinless lamb that pleased the Lord. He laid the iniquity, which is the things that we try to do to please God. He laid the iniquity of his people upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He humbled himself to the death of the cross. He was numbered with the transgressors. Well, who's the transgressors? Well, you're looking at one. And I'm looking at some, well, I'm looking at all of them too. He was numbered with sinners. He was numbered with the transgressors. Why? Because he had done no wrong. Neither was any deceit found in his mouth. Isn't that what he said in verse nine? Because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Wait a minute. He was numbered with the transgressors because he had done no violence and deceit wasn't found in his mouth. Yes, because he's the only one that could offer himself to the father and the father be pleased because he had done no violence and deceit was not in his mouth. You and I are guilty of both, aren't we? He bore our guilt and shame and he suffered in our room instead. Look what happens in verse 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his day, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. That tells me that whoever's iniquities he bore, he justified. Is that what that tells you? It's exactly what it just said. My righteous servant shall justify many. Why? Because he'll bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. The father was pleased to bruise him. The Father was pleased to make his soul an offering for sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This was his purpose. This is why he created the world, is so you and I, the dead dog creatures that we are, the sinners that we are, would be made not just in the similitude of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the exact likeness. We're gonna be changed. conformed to his image when we see him face to face, made just like him, just like him. Why? That's who God is pleased with. This is his purpose in salvation. This is all freely by his grace. By his sacrifice, justice was forever satisfied. By his purpose, he's redeemed every one of his chosen people. He was successful. He was successful. I started this by talking about a frustrated God, a God that can't do unless you allow him to, and we're going to end with that. He's not frustrated, not our God. He's seated in the heavens. He reigneth. over the inhabitants of the earth and over the inhabitants of heaven. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? He's sovereign, he's holy, he's just, he's right in all things. He's our God. And thank God he purposed to save his people from their sin. In closing, let's read our text again. Go back to Ephesians chapter one. Now in the light of his purpose, I want us to read this together again. Nine through 14 says this. known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he had 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 ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession." And here's the reason. unto the praise of his glory. What is his purpose? To save his people from their sin. Why? For his glory and for his honor and for our good. Thank God he purposed. He chose the purpose. I love that. Therefore, it came to pass. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would take this and bless it to our understanding. Thank you, Lord, for your purpose. Thank you for being unchangeable. And thank you for finishing the work. In Christ's name. Amen. Let's take a break.