Ephesians chapter 1. One of the things that I enjoy
most is listening to a person talk
on a subject about which he's very knowledgeable and experienced. whatever the field. I just enjoy
listening to someone who has spent years in a particular field
who's experienced and knowledgeable. And that's the reason I love
the writings of the Apostle Paul. Besides his writings being divinely
inspired, they were divinely experienced. We have here in
Ephesians 1 The beginning in verse 1, he says, Paul, an apostle
of Jesus Christ. Who is this man? Well, here's
the old Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, who was steeped in religion,
legalism, self-righteousness, ceremonialism, tradition. He was in religion two-thirds
of his life. Over two-thirds of Paul's life
was spent in religion, without knowing Christ, without knowing
the Father. Listen to him over in Ephesians.
Turn over there to chapter 3 in the book of Philippians, chapter
3. He says here in verse 4, talking about his religion. He said,
though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man
thinketh he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, in his religion,
I am Lord. Well, I was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel. I was of the tribe of Benjamin.
I was a Hebrew, a Hebrew of Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee,
the highest office a fellow could hold, a member of the Sanhedrin. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But these things that were gained
to me, these things that, this was my life, two-thirds of the
years of my life was spent establishing a righteousness before men and
God. And I count all of it lost before
Christ. Here was a man resting in his
works and now resting, trusting in the grace and mercy of God.
This man knows religion. He knows religion and the bondage
of religion without Christ and the darkness of religion without
Christ. And then secondly, here is a
sinner. The man who didn't know he was a sinner. Turn to Romans
7. He didn't know that he was a
sinner. He said, concerning the law, I was blameless. He didn't
know he was a sinner. In Romans 7, he said this, verse
7, "'What shall we say then? Is the law sin, God forbid? Nay,
I have not known sin by the law. I had not known lust, except
the law said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taken occasion
by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.
Without the law, without a true understanding of the law of God,
without a true understanding of the holiness of God, without
a true understanding of the righteousness of Christ, sin was dead in me. I had no sin. I wasn't a sinner. I was alive without the law,
but when the commandment came, sin revived, showed its ugly
head, and I died. Here is the old sinner on his
road to Damascus to persecute believers, brought down to the feet of Christ,
slain by the law, stripped naked by the light of God's Weak and
helpless, crying out, O Lord, what would you have me do? He knows religion, and now he
knows grace. Sovereign grace, he wrote, for
by grace are you saved. Sovereign grace, free grace,
through faith. And even that's not of yourself.
Even that faith, the gift of God, is not of worship. that
any man should boast. We're here at workmanship. Whom
he foreknews, he predestinated to be conformed to the image
of his Son. Whom he predestinated, he called. Whom he called, he justified.
Whom he justified, he glorified. This man knows religion. This man knows grace. Sovereign grace. And thirdly,
here is a chosen vessel. a chosen vessel. Turn over to
Acts 22, Acts chapter 22. When God smote him on the road
to Damascus, stripped him, broke him, showed him the emptiness
of his religion, the darkness of his religion, revealed to
him the Lord Jesus Christ, I am Jesus of Nazareth whom thou persecutest. He blinded him His physical sight
was gone. He went down to Damascus, and
there he spent some time. God sent his spirit to a man
named Ananias, and he told this man to go down to Damascus. There was a man called Saul of
Tarsus that was praying. He went down to see Saul of Tarsus,
down there in Damascus. and one Ananias, a devout man
according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
which dropped back, he came to me, and he stood, and he said
to me, Brother Saul." It's not the hated Saul that the Church
knew, now it's Brother Saul, a new creature in Christ. "'Brother
Saul, receive thy sight.' And the same hour I looked up upon
him, and he said to me, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee.
The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will, his will of redemption, his will and purpose and grace
in Christ Jesus. And that you should see the just
one, that's Christ, the just God for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God. That you might see the just one.
I read that this morning, I'm a just God and a saint. of just
God in the sacred, Jesus Christ is the just one who enables God
to be just and justified. God has chosen you that you should
know his will, that you should see the just one, that you should
hear the voice of his mouth, the gospel, the mysteries of
the kingdom. The person and work of Christ,
you should hear it from his mouth. The God of our fathers has chosen
thee that you should be his witness." God has chosen you to preach
and teach what he revealed to you. You be his witness unto
all men of what you have seen and what you have heard. This
man, Saul of Tarsus, he knew religion, steeped in it, bound
in it, delivered from He knew sovereign grace that brought
him out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God, dear
son. And he knew the gospel because God himself taught him the gospel. Let me show you that in Galatians
1. He knew the gospel, the true
gospel. And he was chosen to bear that
gospel to folks like you and me, Gentiles. In Galatians 1,
and I've told you this over and over again, an apostle. We don't
have any apostles. Our Lord Jesus Christ put these
men in the church. Prophets? Prophets? We don't have any prophets,
except as they preach. Apostles. There were twelve apostles. There were twelve. Judas hanged
himself. He was a son of perdition from
the beginning. Have not I chosen you twelve?
One of you is a devil, Christ said. But this man Paul, a solid
Christ-man, was ordained of God to take Judas' place. He's an
apostle. Paul, an apostle. Verse 1, not
of men, not by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father. I'm
an apostle. I can't say that. Nobody on this earth can say
that. Nobody back then could say it except those eleven and
this one. But now an apostle, two things
had to be true of an apostle, or three things, one chosen of
God. But he had to have seen the Lord. He had to have seen
the Lord. Like Peter, James, John, Matthew,
Luke, Nathanael, these men. John said, I touched him, I handled
him. My eyes have seen him, my ears have heard him. Saul saw
the Lord. He saw him on the road to Damascus.
who I found. I'm Jesus of Nazareth and without
persecutors. What other revelation? I don't
know. In fact, this man went to the third heaven on one occasion.
The only human being ever that went to the third heaven. Our
Lord has human nature. He went to paradise. But Saul
of Tarsus, Paul, went to the third heaven. He said, I heard
things that are not lawful to utter. So he saw the Lord. He
said, I saw the Lord as one born out of due time. I saw the Lord. Some of these people contended
he wasn't an apostle. Some of these people contended
that Paul wasn't an apostle because he wasn't with the original twelve
before the crucifixion, Paul's teacher. Some of them contended
he wasn't an apostle, but he said, I am too an apostle. I
saw the Lord as one born out of due time. Go down to verse
15. I certify you, brethren, that
the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. I neither
received it of men, of a man, I wasn't taught it by a man,
I was taught it by the revelation of Jesus Christ. An apostle had
to be chosen, have seen the Lord, and received his teaching and
gospel directly from the Lord. When did Paul receive this? Read on. Well, you've heard of
my conversation, my conduct in time past in the Jews' religion,
how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, wasted it,
two-thirds of my life, profited in the Jews' religion above many
of my equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the traditions of my father. But when it pleased God, When
will a man be saved when it pleases God? When will a man be lifted
out of false religion and put into the kingdom of Christ when
it pleases God? When it pleases God. When will a man have his
sight restored when it pleases God? But when it pleases God,
who separated me from my mother's womb, I've always belonged to
God. We were elected before the foundation
of the world. We were chosen in Christ before
time began. Before there was a sinner, there
was a Savior, a Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,
who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace.
It pleased him to reveal his Son in me, Christ in you." That's
the hope of glory. Christ in me. Not just a doctrine,
a person. Christ formed in you. That's
the hope of glory. He revealed his Son in me. in
me, that I might preach him among the heathen." Now listen, immediately,
I conferred not with flesh and blood. You'd think the first
thing, this man had been a Pharisee, a Sanhedrin, the highest man
in the Jewish courts and temples and teachings and rabbis, and
you'd think, well, the first thing he'll do is make an appointment
with Peter or James or John. That's the first thing I do,
probably, most people do. Right? Send a note to Peter and
say, I've been converted, the Lord saved me, I want to see
you. No, he said immediately, I did not confer with flesh and
blood. Neither went I up to Jerusalem
to them who were apostles before me. No, sir, I didn't go see
Peter, James and John. But I went into the desert. I
went into Arabia. How long he stayed there, I do
not know. You say three years. No, no, it doesn't say that at
all. I went into Arabia, and then
I returned to Damascus. How long I was in Arabia I do
not know, but I do know that he was taught the gospel by the
Lord himself. And then, after three years,
I went to Jerusalem. On another occasion, written
I think in Acts 15, when he went up there for that great conference
about circumcision and those things, he said, that's when
I went up to Jerusalem, three years after God called me and
God taught me the After three years, I went to Jerusalem to
see Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks. But other
apostles saw I knew, and said, James, the Lord's brother. So
this man, we're looking at what he's writing tonight, he knew religion, he knew sovereign
grace, he knew the elective grace of God, and he knew the gospel. I'll tell you this, we'll go
back to Galatians 1 in a moment. certain of his gospel, so certain. He said this in Galatians 1,
verse 6, talking to that church down in Galatia where we're playing
around with circumcision and Sabbath-keeping and these things,
going back to the law. He said, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you unto the grace of
Christ. That was Paul talking about himself. I called you,
I preached the gospel to you, God sent me and God saved you,
but I preached the gospel to you. I'm amazed that you've turned
from my teaching unto another gospel, which is not another.
But there'll be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ, change it. But my point is, though we or
an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that
which I preach unto you, let him be a curse." That's confidence,
isn't it? As I said before, I'll say it
again. If any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that
you have received. I preach to you, and you receive."
Let him be accursed of God. I'll tell you something else
about this man. He knew religion, he knew grace,
he knew the gospel, and he knew his days were numbered. These
epistles were written, like some people call them the prison epistles.
But they were written when this old faithful steward was just
about to seal his testimony with his own blood. He said to Timothy,
young Timothy, his son in the ministry, he said, Timothy, the
time of my departure is at hand. I fought a good fight. I kept
the faith. I finished my course. They laid
up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, will give to me in that day. and not to me only, but
to all them who love his appearing." He had a threefold request he
gave there in Philippians 3, that I might win Christ and be
found in him, that I might know him, that I might attain to the
resurrection of the dead. Now, look at my text. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
for the will of God, to the Saints. which are emphasis to the faithful
in Christ Jesus. Here is the general salutation. Grace be to you. Grace be to
you. Peace from God our Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless God. Bless God, he says,
because he's God. He's worthy to be blessed. He's
worthy to be praised. He's He's almighty, he's holy,
he's love. Bless God because he's God. And
bless God because he's the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the father of covenant mercy. He's the father of covenant grace.
And bless him because he's blessed us. Blessed be God. Blessed be the father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And blessed be God because he
has blessed us. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly things. Some people believe heavenly
things in Christ, but spiritual blessings in the heavenly. We're
not talking about material blessings here. We're all thankful for
material blessings. Paul said, I know how to be abased
and I know how to abound. I'd rather abound than be abased.
But he said, I know how to be abased and I know how to abound.
In all of these things, I've learned. whatsoever state I am
to be content. But here is the happiness, to
be blessed with all spiritual blessings, sanctification, righteousness,
redemption, acceptance in the beloved. Be blessed, brother.
And notice two words. Bless God. Bless God because
he's God. Whether he saves me or not, bless
God. I like what those three Hebrew children said. when the
wicked king was going to cast them in the fire of punishment.
And he said, is your God able to deliver you? They said, he's
able. He's able. But if he delivers
us or doesn't deliver us, he's still God. I hear people who object to election
and object to predestination and object to some of these glorious
doctrines on the basis they get upset because maybe their children
are not included, or some loved one is not included, or some
person who has already died didn't believe it, and they say, well,
I just can't believe it. Well, let me tell you something. Let God be God in every man alive. Whether I'm saved or you're saved,
whether God's pleased to save anybody in my family, he's still
God. And salvation is still by grace.
And salvation is still in Christ. And salvation is still the gift
of his love. That's just so. But he said,
Bless God who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenly, in Christ. And I thought, what's a good
way to illustrate all the mercies of God in Christ? The love of
God, the life of God, the protection of God. the provision of God,
the presence of God. How do you in Christ dwell with
all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily with complete in Him?
How do you illustrate that? I'll tell you the best way. You
see that ark of Noah floating out there on the waters of judgment?
All around that ark is nothing but death darkness, destruction,
misery, waste, and corruption in that hour. In the warmth of
it, in the light of it, in the provision of it, in the comfort
of it, in the safety of it. There's God love. There's God
life. That's God's protection. That's
God's provision. And that's Christ. And everything
outside there, oh, bless God. 2nd verse, verse 4. According,
God has blessed us, blessed him because he's God, blessed him
because he's the Father of Christ, blessed him because he's blessed
us, and he's blessed us because he chose us. That's why he blessed
us, he chose to bless us. It was his will to bless us.
He didn't bless us because of anything we did or anything we
will do. He didn't bless us because of
any contribution we made or didn't make. He blessed us according
as he chose us in Christ, when? Before the foundation of the
world. Old Brother Johnson asked a fellow
one time who was objecting to God's election, God choosing
a people. He said, could I ask you three
questions, assuming that you're safe? The man said, well, I'm
safe. I know God. But he said, let me ask you three
questions. Did you choose God or did he choose you? I said, he chose me. Man has to
say that. Because Christ said that. Christ
said to his apostles, you didn't choose me, I chose you. You didn't
choose me, I chose you. The second question, Brother
Johnson said, well, when did he choose you? The fellow immediately
said, when I believed. He said, wait a minute. That's
not what the Word of God says. What does the Word say? Well,
the Word says he chose us before the foundation of the world. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
he said, I thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God from the beginning chose you to salvation. Not to
service, not to an office, not to the ministry. He chose you
to salvation from the beginning. See, no one under God are all
his works from the beginning. He declares the end from the
beginning. Christ knew from the beginning who would believe and
who wouldn't believe. He gave them the faith to believe. But
the third question, why'd he choose you? Did he see something
in you that wasn't in other people? Some cause, some reason, some
motivation that caused God to be attracted to you? Why'd he
choose you? You know he passed by many. Why'd
he choose you? Why? He said, according to the good
pleasure of his own will. Those questions cannot be answered
except in that way. And that's what he says here.
He chose us in Christ. Now friends, Christ is his elect. Christ is
the son. Christ is the heir. Christ is
the king of the kingdom. It's his kingdom. And he chose
us in Christ. That's right. The hymn writer,
I think, put it real well. Christ be my first elect, God
said, and then chose us in our heads. Chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Why? What's the purpose of God
in choosing a people out of Adam's race? Here it is, that we should
be holy. He didn't choose us because we
were holy. He chose us in order to make us holy, to make us like
Christ, in order that we should be holy and without blame, blameless. 1954, Brother George Fletcher
came over here from Hampton, Virginia, preached for us in
a Bible conference. I'll never forget his message.
He's dead now. I think he was in his 1954, let's
see, that's 45 years ago. He must have been in his late
40s because he was 90-some-odd when he died, 94 or 95. But he preached from this scripture
right here. And I remember vividly his outline. He said, Ephesians 1 gives us
the work of the Father, the work of the Son, the work of the Spirit,
and our redemption. He says verse 3 and 4 and 5 and
6 tells us about the Father. He said Paul begins where he
is. He said, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. who has blessed us with eyes to see and ears to hear
and a heart to believe, all spiritual blessings in the heaven. Why
did he do that? According as he chose to do it.
He chose that, to give us life in Christ. He chose us in Christ.
He elected us in Christ, that we should be holy without blame
before him in love. What preceded that? Why did God,
why was He pleased to choose a people? Why did He choose a
people? Having predestinated us to the
adoption of sons, God Almighty says, I'm going to have a people,
and they're going to be like my son. Let me show you that
in Romans 8. The word predestination is used
in the Bible four times, probably five if you can include Peter,
but in Romans chapter 8, listen to this. Verse 29, Romans 8. Whom he did foreknow, he did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. He predestinated
us to be like Christ. That's the destination of everybody
whom God saves. They're going to be like Christ.
Predestination and election, not the same. They're the same
people, but God elected the people. But predestination is what they're
going to be. Election, who they are. Predestination is what they're
going to be. They're going to be like Christ.
Everybody in heaven is going to be like Christ. Like the son
of his love. Love the things Christ loves.
Enjoy the things Christ enjoys. Believe the things Christ believes.
Just like his son. That's the predestination. I use sometimes when I talk to
people about this, I say, you go down to the bus depot, the
Greyhound bus depot, and the buses keep coming in there, and
their destination is up on the front of the bus. Louisville. Where's that bus going? Louisville.
Akron. Where's that bus going? Akron.
Well, who determined that? The folks in charge. When was
it determined? Before they got to Ashland, I
guarantee you. They were predestinated. Predetermined. Their end was predestinated. Joseph is going to be on the
throne in Egypt. That was determined before Joseph
ever drew his first breath, he's going to be king. And the path
that God brought him along to take him to that place, that
was God's providence and purpose, but to be king. You're going
to be a king, like Christ. That's your predestination, that's
predetermined, predestinated to be like Christ. You see, whom
he did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, he called
him. Brother Fletcher said, God's
blessed me because God chose me. That's why he blessed me.
He chose me in Christ. And he chose us in Christ because
he determined, I'm going to have a kingdom. Kingdom wherein dwelleth
righteousness and righteous holy people, where there's no death,
no pain, no sorrow, no sickness, no sin. That's determined. That's our end. That's our destination,
to be like Christ. We go back one step, let's see
what it says. Verse 4 says he chose us, verse
3 says he blessed us, verse 4 says he chose us, verse 5 says because
he predestinated us unto the adoption of children by himself
according to the good pleasure of his own will. He willed to do it. I didn't
will it, you didn't will it. my will, I'll do all my pleasure
and my will." A friend of mine pastors a church and somebody
walked up to him not long ago and said, well, I'll tell you,
the Bible has a lot to say about free will. F-R-E-E-W-I-L-L, free
will. And I thought, well, you know,
I've never looked that up in the concordance. So I went right
to my concordance and I opened it and I found Pray Well 17 times
in this Bible. The word Pray Well, like on this
church out here, 13th Street, Pray Well Bible Church. And we're
out in the county, Pray Well, 17 times it's in the Bible. And every single time that it's
mentioned, it refers to one thing. Every time except one now. But
every time the word free will is mentioned, it refers to one
thing. Sixteen times. Free will offerings. You give as you purpose in your
own heart. There's no law that makes you give. There's no fetters
put on you to compel you. There's no amount set. You give
whatever you willingly, freely will to give. That's right. Sixteen times. That's all it
talks about. The wonder is Ezra. You want to look at the book
of Ezra? Let's find it. It hides from me sometimes, so
don't be impatient. Ezra, back here before Nehemiah,
isn't it? Yeah, here it is. Ezra 7. Ezra
7, verse 12. Here's the only time the word
free will is in the Bible. It refers to anything except
giving. Ezra 7, verse 11. Now this is a copy of the letter
that King Artaxas gave unto Ezra, the priest, the scribe. Even
a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and
of the statutes to Ezra. Artaxas, king of kings, unto
Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God, the Lord of heaven,
perfect peace at such a time. Old King Arthur Axis says, now
I make a decree that all they of the people of Israel and their
priests and Levites in my realm, which are minded of their own
free will to go up to Jerusalem, they can go with you. Anybody
wants to go to Jerusalem, he wants to of his own free will,
let him go. If he wants to go to Bethany, let him go. If he
wants to go where he wants to, let him go. You can go anywhere
you want to go if you own free will, except one place. That's
to heaven. That's right. You can go anywhere
you're determined to go. You can go to hell if you own
free will. But no man can come to me except my father John. And he does that according to
his will. That's right. That's what it says here. His
will. I've got to move along in this
letter, but God has blessed us because God chose us. And God
chose a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto
heaven because He predestinated in a covenant of grace to have
a kingdom, a kingdom wherein dwelleth righteousness, a kingdom
of people just like Christ, conformed to the image of the Son of God.
We'll see Him and be like Him. And God predestinated and chose
and blessed because that's what he willed to do. That's what
he willed to do. And he did it, verse 6, to the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he made us accepted in
the beloved. And then let me show you what
Brother Fletcher showed us down years ago in verse 7, 8, 9, and
10. What the Son did for us, let
me just read and point out these things. Number one, he redeemed
us, in whom we have redemption through his blood. Number two,
he gave us the forgiveness of sins, blotted them out, cleansed
us of all sins, according to the riches of his grace. Number
three, verse eight, he abounded toward us in all wisdom. We were
fools, and Christ gave us wisdom. He enlightened us. That's right. Verse 9 says, He made known unto
us the mystery of the will of God, according to his good pleasure
which he purposed in himself. Number four, that in the dispensation
of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ. Someone wrote this years ago.
He said this, he said, Before man fell. before the fall of
man, all things were one together in Christ the Creator. But since
the fall, there's division, there's discord, there's strife among
angels, men, nations, creatures. But one day, it's all going to
be one again. That in the dispensation of the
fullness, when the fullness of time has come, and this He's
going to gather together in one, all things in Christ, in Christ,
both which are in heaven, which are on earth, even in Christ.
And they're going to enter an inheritance. Look at verse 11.
He enriched us, verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an
inheritance. That inheritance, what is it?
It's an eternal inheritance. It's a rich inheritance which
joiners with Christ. It's reserved inheritance. It's
incorruptible, undefiled. It's fate, it's not a way, it's
reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.
Being predestinated to this inheritance, according to our decision, or
our way, no, according to the purpose of him who works all
things after the counsel of his own will. All things. that we should be to the praise
of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. So when he gave the
work of the Father, he said, to the praise of the glory of
his grace. When he gave the work of the Son, he said, to the praise
of his glory. Now the Spirit, and I'll close, in whom you also, along with
all the other elect of God, Dan, in his prayer, talked about he
was in religion, steeped in religion, and God sent him a messenger.
The messenger came to him with a message. A messenger has a
message. Preacher preaches Christ. He
came to Dan with the gospel. And what Dan did, he trusted.
He trusted Christ. When? After he heard the word
of truth. He heard the truth. And if you
hear it from a man, you'll hear it from one of God's servants,
you'll hear it from a preacher. How are they going to call on
Him in whom they've not believed? And how are they going to believe
in Him of whom they've not heard? And how are they going to hear without a
preacher? You trusted Christ after you heard the word of truth,
the truth about salvation. What did you hear? You heard
the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after you trusted. You are sealed. You are sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise. What is this sealing? It is the confirming and assuring
the saints of their interest in the favor of God and the blessings
of Christ forever. And that seal is not circumcision. It's not baptism. It's not a
profession of faith. It's not a feeling. It's not
growth and greatness, it's the Holy Spirit himself. That's the
seal. You are sealed with that Holy
Spirit, the promise, baptized into Christ by one Spirit. No
man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Spirit. If any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. as many as are led
by the Spirit of God and the sons of God. And you are sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. Verse 14, and he is the earnest. He's the pledge. He's the promise. He's the token of our inheritance. It's already ours. It's reserved
in heaven for you. God willed it. God predestinated
it. God chose you to partake of it.
And God blessed you. And the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
you, and forgave you, and gave you wisdom. He enlightened you,
and he enriched you with that inheritance. And the Holy Spirit
came, sent by God one day, just like he went to Philip, just
like he went to Peter, just like he went to Cornelius. And he
called you by our gospel. And you heard it. And you believed
it. And the Holy Spirit sealed you.
And that Holy Spirit witnessing in you is the pledge of that
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.
And I'll tell you about that in Romans 8, if you'll turn to
my last verse, Romans 8, verse 23. And not only they, but we ourselves
also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, the pledge of
the Spirit. Even we ourselves, grown within
ourselves, we're waiting. We're waiting for something.
We're waiting for the adoption. We're waiting, that is, namely,
for the redemption of this body. That's the Holy Spirit's, our
pledge. And in closing, he said, to the praise of his glory. To the praise of his glory. All
right. I pray that's a blessing to you.