I want you to open your Bibles
to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1. Ephesians, chapter 1. The title of my message, I want
you to keep your Bibles open now. We're going to look closely
at this scripture. The title of this message is
The Collected Ones. You know where I got that? I
was holding a meeting for Dr. Magruder up in Louisville, Kentucky. He and Kenny Edgington pastored
a church in Louisville, Kentucky, and I went up to preach. And
Dr. Magruder had other interests
besides the ministry, you know, with Kenny. He had an office
in the Madrid building in Louisville, Kentucky. He called me and said,
I'm coming to the service to hear you tonight, but said, I
may be a little late. He said, I won't be able to get
out of the office before seven o'clock. So I said, wonderful. We'll be glad to see you and
look forward to you coming. And seven o'clock, he ran out
of his office down to the elevator, to the elevator to go down to
the meeting. And a man in an office there
had left his office at the same time McGruder did. They met at
the elevator. And the man said, hello, Dr. Magruder. He said, you're awful
dressed up tonight. Where are you going? And Mike
said, I'm going to church. I'm going to hear a fellow from
Ashland, Kentucky. He said, from Ashland? Yeah.
He said, what's his name? And Magruder said, his name's
Henry Mahan. I know him. I know him. I've heard him on television.
I used to live in Ashland. I know him. He's the guy that
preaches on the collected ones. Magruder said, the what? He said,
the collected ones. Magruder said, you mean the elected
ones? I don't know. I don't know about
that, but I just hope I'm one of the collected ones. And Magruder
looks at him and said, I hope you are too, and I hope I am.
The collected ones. Well, isn't that what he says
in verse 10? Ephesians 1 verse 10, that in the dispensation
of the fullness of times, he might gather together, gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him. My friends, no chapter
Brother Paul just read the first 14 verses, but no chapter in
God's Word more glorifies God in His redemptive work than Ephesians
1. Also, no chapter in God's Word
makes clearer and plainer the way of salvation than this chapter
right here. No chapter more glorifies God
or makes clearer or plainer the way of salvation than Ephesians
1. And no chapter in God's Word
defines more clearly the work of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit than Ephesians 1. And watch this now. No chapter
is so full of Christology, Christology, than this chapter right here.
We're studying theology and eschatology and ecclesiology. We need to
study Christology. That's what I've tried to give
my life to, preach Christ Jesus and Him crucified. And not dealt
so clearly or hardly in theology and eschatology and ecclesiology,
but Christology. That's our thing. Let me show
you that right here in Ephesians 1 verse 3, look. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, that's
verse 3, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heaven
and places in Christ. That's where it all is, in Christ
Jesus. He's blessed us with all blessings
in Christ. Now watch verse 4. according
as He hath chosen us in Christ 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."
He chose us. He blessed us in Christ and He
chose us in Christ. And that next verse says, verse
5, "...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children,
by Jesus Christ. And then six, in the sixth verse,
And to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made
us accepted in the Beloved. Blessed in Christ, chosen in
Christ, predestinated to be children in Christ, and accepted in Christ
Jesus. Jesus engraved it on my heart. that thou the one thing needful
art. I could from all things parted
be, but never, Lord, from thee. Then let my soul, with joy supreme,
dwell on this delightful theme. Glory and praise be ever his,
the one thing needful Jesus is. That's it. The one Christology,
that's our subject, and that's our salvation, and that's our
blessed hope, Christ Jesus, our Lord and our Redeemer. Now let's
go back to verse 1 of Ephesians here. Verse 1 and 2, Paul, an
apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which
are in Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to
you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ."
Who is this man, Paul? Well, I'll tell you this, Paul
is an apostle of Jesus Christ, but for 40 years. For 40 years,
he was called Saul, Saul of Tarsus. He was bound by religious religious
legalism. He was ignorant of God and he
hated the very name of Jesus Christ. Saul of Tarsus hated
the name of Christ. He said, I thought to do much
against this man. That's who he is by nature, by
birth. Then the Lord, then the Lord
Jesus Christ crossed his path. And he always will. If he's gonna
save a man, he's gonna cross his path. Just like he did the
woman at the well. Crossed his path. And the Lord
humbled him in the dust. Put him down in the dust. And
cried, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he blinded him. Looking into that light brighter
than the sun. And Paul called and said, ìWho
art thou, Lord?î And the Savior said, ìI am Jesus of Nazareth,
whom thou persecutest.î ìLord, what would you have me do?î And
then our Lord sent him a preacher. Our Lord sent Ananias to Paul,
sent him a preacher, told him to go down into Damascus and
somebody will tell you what to do. And the Lord sent Paul, Saul
of Tarsus, a preacher. He always does. If God's going
to save a man, he's going to send him a preacher. That's right.
And when the preacher got there, he made five statements. And
these five statements will apply to anybody in this group or anybody
anywhere whom the Lord will save. These five statements will apply
to him. What did he say to him? Well,
this is what he said. He said to Saul of Tarsus, he
said, the God of our fathers has chosen you. The God of our
fathers has chosen thee. Don't buck against the collected
ones or the elected ones. They're all elected. The God
of our fathers chose you. It is not that I did choose thee. Lord, that could not be. This
heart of mine would still refuse thee. but thou hast chosen me. That's the first words that this
man said to this rebel. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee. Then he said this, that thou
shouldest know his will of redemption, his way of salvation, his will
of redemption, the will of God. That's what started this whole
thing. Not my will, your will, his will. That you might know
his will of redemption. Thirdly, And he said that you
might see the just one. Who's the just one? He's the
only one who is just and can justify the ungodly. He's the
just one, the holy one, the righteous one, the perfect one. And he's
the one that gives us salvation. He's the one who is just and
justify. So the God of our fathers chose
you to know his will of redemption. that you might see the just one,
and that you might hear the word of his voice, hear him speak
through his word. Nobody's going to be saved without
hearing the truth about Christ. You've got to hear the truth.
And then he said this, the fifth thing, The God of our fathers
chose you, that you should know His will, that you should see
the Savior, that you should hear the voice of His mouth, and that
you might be a witness to all men. Witness of what? Of what you've seen and what
you've heard. That old demoniac, that old demoniac
that was naked and cut himself and was crazy and nobody could
tame him Put him on chains and he'd break loose. When he met
the Savior, he fell at his feet, clothed in his right mind, and
saved him. And then out Deuteronomy said
to the Savior, I want to go with you. Christ said, no. No, you're not going with me. You're going home. You're going
home. You go home and tell your folks
the great things God's done for you. That's a witness. And that's
what he told Saul of Tarsus here. that you might be a witness to
all men of what you've seen. Tell them what you've seen. Tell
them what you've heard. That's the truth. That's it.
And now the old witness here. Saul of Tarsus, a rebel, a Pharisee,
a Sadducee, a member of the Sanhedrin, hated Jesus Christ. God crossed
his path, broke him down, crushed him, humbled him, saved his soul.
sent him a preacher, taught him the gospel. Now he's dying. Old Paul's dying. That's right.
He said this. He said, I'm ready to be offered
a drink offering before the Lord. I'm ready to be offered. He's
in prison now. He's in chains. He's in jail. And he's writing this last letter
to the Ephesians. This is the last thing he had
to say. This is the last thing he had to say to these people.
He said, you know when he spoke to those elders from Ephesus,
he said, I won't see your safety on this again. But he's going
to tell them something. I'm ready to be offered. The
time of my departure is at hand. Mine is 82 years old. Somebody asked me when I came
in, how long you and Doris been married? 62 years and another
month. That's a long time. I love her
just as much as I ever did or more. That's right. But we're
getting to the end of the line. We're glad. We're glad. We're happy. We've finished our
course. By God's grace, we've kept the
faith. And you look over here at Ephesians
6, at Paul, what he said here in this Ephesians 6, one of the
last verses. He's in prison here. 6 verse
20, for which I am an ambassador in bonds. What's that word? Chains. I'm an ambassador, I'm a witness
of Christ, but I'm in chains. And therefore, therein, I may
speak boldly as I ought to. And where I am right now, I'm
ready to be offered And my departure's at hand, and I've finished my
course, and I'm not in chains, but I'm going to tell the truth.
I'm going to tell it like it is, just exactly like it is.
That's right. That's what he said. That's what
he said right there in that verse. He said that I'm going to speak
boldly as I ought to speak, as I ought to speak. All right.
Let's look at these verses here. Ephesians 1. Now, this doxology,
I call it His glorious, blessed doxology. If you watch this,
starting at verse 3, watch it carefully. Verse 3 through 14,
there's only three sentences. You know, what you do, commas and semicolons
and all, you do that, but there's only three sentences here. Three
sentences. Verse 3, through 6 is one sentence. Verse 7 through 12 is one sentence. And verse 13, 14 is one sentence. Paul is giving his glorious doxology
in three sentences. And he starts out this way with
verse 3. Bless God. Blessed be God. Why? Look, he said, because He's
God. Bless Him because He's God. Bless
Him because He's the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
Him because He's blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. What are these heavenly blessings?
Well, it's not houses and land. It's not automobiles and the
things that people accumulate. It's spiritual blessings. God,
bless God. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. You know what they are? In 1
Corinthians 1, verse 30. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who has made unto us wisdom, wisdom of God, righteousness,
redemption, sanctification. That's what He's blessed us with.
God has blessed us Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from Him. Like you was talking about the
gift of a pastor, of a wife, of a family, of children, all
these are blessed gifts. But all the blessed gift of eternal
life and salvation and redemption, that's those spiritual gifts
in heavenly places in Christ. All right, that's not the end,
that's just a semicolon. He said, Blessed be the God and
Father who has blessed us, verse 4, according as He chose us in
Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame in love. My friends, Christ said
to His disciples, you didn't choose me, I chose you. That's right. And if you trace
your spiritual blessings, In salvation, in election, you'll
find five things, right here. There are five things in this
verse. Watch this. There's these five
things. You'll find a person, according
as He hath chosen us. That's God. He hath chosen us. If you trace your salvation,
you'll find a person, you'll find a time. When? before the
foundation of the world. And then you'll find a purpose,
look, that we should be holy, righteous in Christ, without
blame. And then a will, down here in
verse 5 he said, chosen us that we should be holy without blame,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children according
to the good pleasure of His own will. A person, the Father. a time before the world began,
a purpose make us like Christ, a will according to the good
pleasure of His will, and a results made us accepted. Accepted. In the Beloved, accepted am I. Risen, ascended, and seated on
high. God sees my Savior, then He sees
me. In the Beloved. Where? In the
Beloved. In the Beloved. Accepted. Accepted and free. Accepted. That must mean something,
something great. Accepted. Well, I'm going to
say accepted where? In the Beloved. In the Beloved,
yes, in His heart. He loved them from the foundation
of the world. He loved them and sent His Son
to redeem them. In His hand. He said, no man
can pluck them out of my hand. My Father is greater than all,
and no man can pluck Him out of my Father's hand." And then
His book. He said, whose names are written
in the book of life. And then in His body. Paul preached
on this recently. We're members of His body, of
His flesh, and of His bones. We're in Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He chose us in Christ before the world began, that we should
be holy, predestinate us in the adoption of children to Himself
according to the good pleasure of His will, and then, and then
accepted." Verse 6. to the praise of the glory of
His grace where He made us accepted. Where? In Christ. In His heart,
in His hand, in His book, and in His body. That's the first
sentence. What a doxology. Now watch the
second sentence. Here's the second sentence starting
with verse 7. There's a comma, I mean there's
a period at the end of verse 6. Accepted the Beloved. Now then, in whom we have redemption. In whom we have redemption. The
Son redeemed us. For as much as you know, Peter
said that you were not redeemed with silver and gold, but with
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot or
blemish, who was foreordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifested in these last days for you who by
Him do believe." Yes, that Christ Jesus redeemed us. He redeemed
us. And if Christ redeemed us by
His death, listen to this, listen to these three statements. If
Christ died for us, God will for Him to die. God, it pleased
God to bruise Him. It pleased God to put Him to
death. If God, if Christ died for us,
God willed it. Secondly, if Christ died for
us, there's no other way of salvation. Can't be. And if Christ died
for us, we'll never die. He that liveth and believeth
on me, though he were dead, shall live eternally. That's right.
Now, in whom we have redemption. What else do we have in Christ?
Listen to this. In verse 8. whereby wherein he
hath abounded, he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence."
We know him. He has given us the wisdom and
the understanding and the knowledge of who he is, what he did, why
he did it, and where he is now. We know that the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we may know him that's true.
That we're in Him that is true. Even in His Son. This is the
true God. And this is eternal life. He
hath redeemed us. He hath abounded toward us in
wisdom. Now watch verse 9. And He has
made known unto us the mystery of His will. What is the mystery
of His will? Here it is in Romans chapter
16. Turn back there a minute. Romans chapter 16, verse 25.
Listen to this. Now, watch this. The mystery
of His will. He's made known it to us. Made
known to us the mystery of His will. Romans 16, 25. Now to Him
that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and
the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of
the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but is
now made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets according
to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith to the only wise God be glory through
Jesus Christ our Lord. He's redeemed us. He has abounded
for us in wisdom. He has revealed to us the mystery
of his will, and then he says here, what I've said a while
ago, he's gathered us together in verse 10. Now in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, he might gather together all of his elect,
all of his elect. You know, I preached on Paul's
radio broadcast last Sunday about this multitude in heaven. John
said, I saw a great multitude, which no man can number, impossible
to number, out of every kindred, every tribe, every tongue, every
people, every nation, a multitude. Now, when John was here on earth,
he didn't see anything like that. He didn't see it. He saw a few
believers here, a few believers there, a few believers yonder.
Where are all these people coming from? Well, I was out in California
in a meeting and a school teacher named Tom, Tom Sawyer, that was
Tom Sawyer. He came to me, an older man,
and he said, brother man, he said, my little grandson, two
years old, my little grandson, two years old, died a few weeks
ago and it just killed me. It just broke my heart. And he
said, I miss him so much. And he said, brother man, will
he be in heaven? Yes, sir. Absolutely. He'd be in heaven. Why do you
say that, brother of mine? I said, well, David said it.
David, a man after God's own heart. David who wrote the Psalms. David said his son died. He wasn't
but a few hours old. And David said, my son's dead. I can't bring him back. But I
plan to go to him. Where is he, David? In heaven.
And that's where I'm going. That's where he is. And this
multitude, which no man can number, numbers, is children who've died
in infancy. Every one of them. That's exactly
right. Every one of them. Mrs. Sawyer said, my grandson
never made a profession of faith. He never went to church. He never
read the Bible. I said, he's with the Lord, though.
David believed that. Because I know this. And we're
killing babies a million a year in America. Don't tell how many
everywhere else. Those babies, every one, go to
glory. You know, they've been arguing
about when is life started? At conception. I'll read you
that right here in the book of Psalms. Turn it, if you will,
if I can find it. Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Psalm 139. Yeah, watch this now. You know
what God said to Jeremiah? He said, Jeremiah, before I formed
you in the belly, I knew you. I called you by name, and I made
you a prophet before you were ever born. That's right. Now you watch this Psalm 139,
verse 13. For thou hast possessed my reins,
thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. That's exactly when I was
a child, right there. Read on. I will praise thee,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works,
and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid
from you when I was made in secret. and curiously wrought in the
lowest parts of the earth." Where is that? That's his mother's
womb. That's the woman carrying this little lady in our church
this morning, has a little girl in her belly. Oh, we're taking
a picture of her, you know, got her fingers, you know, windy,
little girl. She's not born for four more
months, but she's there. God knows her. She's one of his
own if she dies early. That's the reason There are people
that are ever kindred, ever family's got a dead baby, ever kindred,
ever tribe, ever nation, ever tongue, ever people on this earth
will make up that multitude which no man can number in the presence
of God Almighty. I know that. And anybody that
doesn't know that just doesn't know the scripture. That's exactly
right. That's what we're looking at
here. That in the dispensation of the fullness of time, God
will gather together all His elect, all His elect from the
four corners of the world, in earth and heaven. All right,
verse 11. Verse 11 says, The Son redeemed
us, He gave us wisdom, and He made known the mysteries of His
will, and He's going to gather together all His elect of all
nations, of all tribes, And then in verse 11, he says, we have
an inheritance. We have an inheritance. One time
years ago, Tom and Paul will remember this. I was on television
25 years. And on the station, it reached
out over Ohio and West Virginia and Kentucky and places like
that. And a lady in Ohio died. And a lawyer came visit me in
my study. And he said, are you Reverend
Mahan? I said, yes, sir. He said, Mrs. So-and-so died
and left everything she's got to you and Jimmy Swigert and
the Church of Christ and E.J. Daniels divided up among the
four of you. I said, well, that's interesting.
And he said she was a pretty wealthy lady. And that you'll
have to hire you a lawyer, though. I said, why would I later know
you if she willed it to me? Don't I get it? He said, no,
not necessarily. He said, her family is contesting
the will. They think she's not right in
the mind. I said, maybe she's not leaving it to all those fellows,
you know. And he said, well, you'll have
to get your lawyer. I said, I won't do that. I said,
I'm not going to have a name here in town of fighting over
some poor widow's inheritance, you know. So I said, you just
let it go, forget it. He said, well, you have to sign
this paper. I said, put it down there. And I said, I lost my
inheritance. Whatever it was she left, I lost.
But I'm not going to lose this one. I'm not going to lose this. See, this lady died and she can't
do anything about it. She's dead. But when our Savior
died and gave us inheritance, He lives. He's the advocate.
He's going to take care of all this inheritance that he left.
Isn't that what I said? That's right. It all depends
on here the one still living, and that's the Redeemer. That's
it. All right. Look at this. Verse
11, in which he hath obtained an inheritance, being predestinated
according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counts of his own will. What does predestination mean?
Well, it's only used in the Bible four times, and every time it
has to do with one thing. Now, election, God elected people,
but predestination has to do with what those people are going
to be. They're going to be like Christ. That's what they're going
to be. I saw, I went into a man one time in the filling station,
and I walked in the filling station to pay my gas, and he had a Bible
on the counter there. And I said, you got a nice Bible
there. He says, my wife bought it for
me. He said, you believe in predestination? Just like that. I said, I don't
know. Where is it in the Bible? He
said, I don't know. I said, why don't we look it up? So I turned
four times in the Bible, four times. Romans 8, in Ephesians
1. I read it. I said, my friend,
predestination has to do with one thing. Everybody whom God
saves is going to be like Christ. That's right. Predestinated to
be conformed to the image of His Son. I said, don't you want
to be like Christ? He said, oh yes. I said, do you
believe in predestination? I walked out. I don't know whether
he believed it or not, but that's what it is. He predestinated
us to be conformed to the image of His Son. according to the
good pleasure of His own will, because He works everything out
according to His will. And then verse 12, that we should
be to the praise of the glory of His grace who first trusted
in Christ. Did you notice verses 3 through
6 ends the same way? To the praise of the glory of
His grace where He made us accept in the beloved. All of this,
the Father's work, is to the praise of His glory. And then
the Savior's work, verse 12, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, who trusted in Christ. Now, here's the third sentence. I want you to watch this. Verse 13-14. This is Paul's great
doxology, verse 13-14. In whom you trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also after you believed, you were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." Now then, we've talked about the work of
the Father, the Father's purpose to save His elect, and in that,
those first few verses, In God's almighty choosing of people,
making them like Christ, the sinner is passive. The sinner
didn't have anything to do with that. There was no work, there
was no cooperation, there was no faith. With whom did he take counsel?
Himself. We didn't have anything to do
with it. Now, when you get to the work of the son, The Son
redeemed us. The Son gave us wisdom. The Son
gave us understanding of His will. The Son is going to gather
us together. And the Son is going to give
us inheritance. And Jesus paid it all. There's no reference
to faith, or works, or cooperation. In fact, it says this in Hebrews
1, when He had by Himself purged our sin he sat down on the right
hand of the majesty and we didn't have anything to do with it but
look at verse 13 in whom you trusted who trusted you did in
whom after you heard you did what I heard the gospel you're
so when the Holy Spirit speaks you listen isn't that right When
the Holy Spirit called, you heard. We're not robots. We're not dead
logs. We're not, say, against our will
or contrary to our will. God makes us willing in the day
of His power. You see that? When the Holy Spirit
speaks, you'll listen, because He's going to speak to you. When
the Holy Spirit calls, you'll come. You just will. Don't, old
brother Muse said, sit right where you are, don't move a hand
or a hair, don't say a word, but you come to Christ. In heart
and spirit. You'll come. You'll come. When
the Holy Spirit reveals Christ, you'll believe Him. You'll believe
Him. You'll trust Him. When the gospel's
preached and applied, you will trust Him. There's always a willing
Loving response to God's gospel when it's preached in the power
of God's spirit always always I'll show you that in 1st Thessalonians
chapter 1 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 Watch verse verse 4 1st Thessalonians
chapter 1 verse 4 Knowing brethren beloved your
election of God How does a man know his election by his calling?
Which comes first election or calling with God election comes
first you? Calling comes first. That's right
with you calling comes. He called you heard he called
you believe Knowing brethren beloved your election of God
for our gospel came not unto you in word only, it came to
you in power, in the Holy Ghost, in much assurance, as you know
what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And you became
followers of us in the Lord." What came to you? The gospel.
What did you do? You became a follower. It came
and you became. That's right. When the gospel
came to you, you became a follower of the Lord. You heard it, you
believed it, you trusted it. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost. And then you were examples. You
were made an example to all that believe in Macedonia, Archaea,
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, you became
a witness, telling people about your Lord. And verse 9, for they
themselves show what manner of entering in we had among you,
how you turned to God from your idols to serve the living and
true God and to wait on the Lord. Knowing, brethren, your beloved,
your election of God, God elected you. God saved you. Christ died for you. But you
heard the Gospel. And you believed it. You became
a follower, an example. You became a witness. You did. You did. And you'll turn from
your idols to serve the living God. You will. And you'll never
leave it. You'll persevere in faith in
God, in Christ, in the Gospel. Thank you for letting me preach.
I hope it's a blessing.