All Things In Christ

Q: What does the Bible say about all things being in Christ?

The Bible teaches that all spiritual blessings are found in Christ, as seen in Ephesians 1:3. Ephesians 1 emphasizes that all spiritual blessings come from being in Christ. Paul writes that God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places through Christ. This indicates that without Christ, there are no true blessings to be had. Christ is the central figure through whom we receive grace, peace, and all the promises of God, highlighting His essential role in our relationship with God and our salvation.

Q: How do we know predestination is true?

Predestination is affirmed in Scripture, specifically in Ephesians 1:5, where it states God predestined us for adoption. The doctrine of predestination is rooted in Ephesians 1, where Paul articulates that God has predestined those whom He chooses for adoption as His children through Jesus Christ. This predestination occurs according to His own will and purpose, not based on any foreseen merit in the individuals. The repeated assurance in Scripture points out that God sovereignly elects and determines the destiny of believers, reassuring them of His mercy and grace. This highlights God's active role in our redemption and the assurance of our salvation.

Q: Why is grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential for Christians because it enables true peace with God and underpins our salvation. Grace serves as the crucial foundation for the Christian faith, according to Ephesians 1:2, which opens with Paul's greeting of grace to the believers. Without God's grace, there can be no peace with Him; it is through grace that we are forgiven, justified, and empowered to live in accordance with His will. Grace is a testament to God's unmerited favor towards us, allowing us to have a relationship with Him despite our sinfulness. This emphasizes that salvation is not earned but freely given, making grace a central theme in the Christian life and a cause for eternal gratitude.

Q: What does it mean to be in Christ?

Being in Christ means receiving all spiritual blessings and being united with Him in faith, as taught in Ephesians 1. To be in Christ is a theological concept that signifies our spiritual union with Jesus through faith. Ephesians 1 stresses that believers are 'in Christ' repeatedly, indicating that all the blessings, acceptance, and salvation we experience are found exclusively in Him. This union means that we share in His righteousness, redemption, and inheritance, reflecting our identity as children of God. It also emphasizes that outside of Christ, there is no hope or promise, further underlining His centrality in our lives.

Q: How can we be assured of our salvation?

Our assurance of salvation comes from being sealed by the Holy Spirit, as stated in Ephesians 1:13-14. Ephesians 1:13-14 assures believers of their salvation by stating that upon believing the gospel, they are sealed with the Holy Spirit. This sealing acts as a guarantee of our inheritance until we fully experience redemption. It indicates the active work of the Holy Spirit within us, confirming our status as children of God and ensuring our everlasting security in Christ. This assurance is not based on our works but solely on the promise and faithfulness of God, underpinning the sovereign grace doctrine that we are secure in Christ’s redemptive work.

Now, I'm going to be speaking
today from the book of Ephesians. This is Paul's epistle to the
church at Ephesus called the book of Ephesians. I wish that
you would get a Bible and open it to Ephesians chapter 1. I'm
going to be dealing verse by verse, the Lord willing, with
the first 14 verses of the first chapter of Ephesians. I think
it'd be very profitable to you. The title of this message is,
All Things Are in Christ. All things, all things are in
Christ. Now, while you're finding the
Scriptures, let me make a few opening comments. If you or if
I, if we have not discovered If it hasn't been revealed to
us that the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the foundation
of the whole Bible, if that hasn't been revealed to you or to me,
that Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the whole foundation, the
essence, the substance, the summary of this Bible, to Him give all
the prophets witness, then we've read the Bible with no profit,
absolutely no profit. Our religion is vain. And actually,
what knowledge we have of this sacred book in that day of judgment
will only add to our misery and add to our condemnation because
we missed the key of knowledge. Without Christ, in Him crucified,
a man's religion is like heaven without the sun. Can you imagine
heaven without the sun? All would be darkness and death.
And that's religion without Christ. Religion without Christ and Him
crucified is like a lamp without oil. It's useless. Like a clock
without hands or a compass without a needle. Without Christ crucified,
we have no forgiveness of sins. We have no comfort in the time
of trouble. We have no strength in death.
We have no atonement in judgment. We have no mediator with God.
But the Scripture says there's one mediator between God and
men, and that's the man, Christ Jesus. All that a holy God has
for a sinner, and that's what we are, guilty sinners, is in
Christ Jesus alone. All that God has for a sinner
is in Christ. That's true. The Scripture says
that. Colossians 2 says, "...in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." Can you
imagine all the fullness of God? Now think about that. All the
fullness of God, all that God has, all that God is, all that
God gives, all of God dwells in Jesus Christ. All the fullness,
the fullness of God dwells in Christ. And you are complete
in Him. And the Father, listen to this,
John 3, 35, the Father loves the Son. I've said that so many
times on this telecast. The Father loves the Son and
hath given all things into His hands. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath life. He that believeth not the Son
of God, the wrath of God abideth on him." It's not right. It's
not fair. It's not true. And we must not
tell men everywhere that God's in love with them when He's not.
The Father loveth the Son. Do words mean anything? John
3, 35 and 36, the Father loveth the Son. and hath given all things into
his hands. He that believeth on the Son
hath life, and having life he has love. And he that believeth
not the Son, the wrath of God abideth on him." Romans 8, 39
says the love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord. When the flood
came, there was no mercy, no love, and no deliverance except
in the ark. Outside the ark, there was wrath
and judgment and death. When the manslayer fled, who
accidentally killed someone, they called him the manslayer,
and when he fled, he must flee to the city of refuge. And the
only place of safety was within the city. Not wandering around
outside somewhere claiming that he was protected, that he was
loved, that he was cared for. He wasn't. He was in trouble. But when he got inside the city,
he was under the protective care of the high priest. God said
to Israel, I will dwell between the cherubims on the mercy seat
and there I'll meet you and I'll commune with you at the mercy
seat. And my friends, there'll not
be one voice among the millions in heaven, not one voice among
the millions or billions or whatever. a number that cannot be numbered
in heaven. There'll not be one voice which
will not be singing praises to Jesus Christ. This is the song
of heaven. Unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests
unto God. Unto Him be the glory both now
and forever. Amen. Every voice. For the Scripture says every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Men can believe what they want to. They can go where they please.
They can listen to whomever they please. But I'm telling you what
this book says. And the very foundation of this
book is Christ and Him crucified. Every promise is in Christ. Every
promise of God is in Christ, yea and amen. Outside of Christ,
there's nothing. This is the message of the book,
Christ and Him Crucified. All things are in Christ. Now
look here at Ephesians 1. I want you to watch this. Just
about 10 times the Scripture's used, in Him, in Christ, in Christ,
of Christ. Right here in these 14 verses,
about 10 times. Everything's in him. Now, watch
it. Paul. He starts this verse off, Ephesians
1, verse 1. Paul. And God's servants were
never fond of titles. You'll never find one taking
a title unto himself. David said, Holy and Reverend
is God's name. They never called themselves
Dr. Paul or Bishop Paul or Right Reverend Paul. It's just Paul.
Somebody said the only man who ever deserved a doctor's degree
in the ministry wouldn't wear it, and that's Paul. But he said,
I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostle. There are no apostles
today. An apostle had to have seen the Lord and receive his
message directly from the Lord. But he said, I am an apostle.
I'm an apostle by the will of God, by the will of God. God put me in the ministry, he
said. God gave me my message. I didn't learn it from men. God
taught me the message. And he's writing to the saints.
My friend, what is a saint? A saint is any true believer.
A person's not a saint because he's been canonized by a certain
group of people. He's not a saint because he's
done some marvelous, unusual miracle proven several hundred
years after he's dead. Every believer is a saint because
every believer is sanctified. Every believer is a saint. Every
child of God, old, young, male, female, every believer is a saint.
He's writing to the saints, to the believers, which are at Ephesus,
and to the faithful. And you know the Bible is addressed
to believers. The Bible's not addressed to
men in general, except judgment. Judgment's addressed to the unbeliever.
Judgment's addressed to the natural man. But all the promises of
God in Christ are addressed to believers. He's writing, this
book is written to believers, to saints, to the sanctified
in Christ Jesus, to the faithful. Where are they? They're in Christ
Jesus. That's what I said a moment ago.
Everything's in Him. And they're in Him. Now watch
this. He says, and grace be to you. Grace and peace from God
our Father. Grace always precedes peace. Somebody wrote one time, grace,
how good, how great, how free. Grace, how easy to be found. Only let your misery in the Savior's
blood be drowned. Grace first inscribed my book,
my name in God's eternal book. Grace gave me to the Lamb who
all my sorrows took. Grace taught my soul to pray.
Grace made my eyes overflow. Grace has kept me to this day,
and grace will not let me go. For grace will complete what
grace begins, to save me from sorrow and from sin. The work
that God's grace undertakes Eternal mercy will never forsake. Grace comes for peace. Man can't have peace with God
till he partakes of the grace of God, the grace of God, the
grace of forgiveness, the grace of God in Christ Jesus, grace
and peace to you. Where does grace come from? From
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. What the Father
does, the Son does, and the Spirit does, What the Father purposes,
the Son purchases, and the Spirit applies. The Father, Son, Holy
Spirit, our God, is one. Now, I want you to watch this.
In the next three or four verses, you have the work of the Father
in the redemption of a sinner. In the next few verses, you have
the work of the Son. And in the next few verses, you
have the work of the Holy Spirit. Let me show you that. Will you
look at it? Paul said, Now I'm an apostle
of Jesus Christ by the will of God. I'm writing to believers.
I'm writing to the saints. I'm writing to the faithful in
Christ Jesus. And grace to you, grace from
God our Father, and peace, peace of heart, peace with God, peace
with one another from the Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then in verse 3, now watch him as he defines the purpose and
the will and the work of the Father in the redemption of a
sinner. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless God. What does bless God mean? Praise
God. It means a doxology. It means
to praise His name. Bless Him because He is God.
Bless Him because He's the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless
Him because He's blessed us. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath, that's past tense, already
blessed us. God has blessed us. Paul starts
where he is. And he said, God's blessed me.
Paul, what's God blessed you with? He's blessed me with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. Look at it there. He has blessed
me with all spiritual blessings. This is not material blessings
and physical blessings and worldly carnal blessings. You know, I
wish people weren't so taken up with this old world. Solomon
tried all of it. There's no man before since.
And he came to the conclusion, it's all vanity. All of your
big houses and all of your fine clothes and your satin and royalty
and all of this social life, this is all vanity. This too
shall pass away. And today they got the idea that
if you wear a diamond ring and a Rolex watch and drive a Mercedes
and live in a 10-room house and have money in the bank, you got
it made. That doesn't mean anything. It's
all going to go back to the dust. But Paul said, the Father has
blessed me with spiritual blessings, spiritual blessings not in my
garage, not in my job, not in this old decaying body, not in
the house I live, in heavenly, in the heavenly places God's
blessed me. At His right hand, I have a Savior. I have a Redeemer. I have a Mediator
who gives me justification and sanctification and righteousness
and redemption. I'd rather wear patches on my
trousers and know Christ than to wear the finest suits that
money can buy and not know the Son of God." I hear these preachers
say, God wants you to be healthy, God wants you to be rich, God
wants you to be popular. That's just not so. God Almighty
wills for you to know Christ. Whether you're poor or whether
you live in Mexico or America, a janitor or whether you're president
of the company, if you know Christ, bless God who has blessed us
with heavenly blessings, spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. That's where they are. They're
in Christ. Now, Paul starts where he says, God's blessed me. Bless
God. He's blessed me. Paul was in prison when he wrote
this. The prisoner of Jesus Christ, he said, I've learned wherever
I am to be content. Bless God," he said, he's blessed
me. He wasn't driving down the road
with a telephone in his car and having money in his pocket and
claiming to be well and healthy and on the top side, on the shady
side. He was in prison. And bless God
who's blessed me with all blessing, all spiritual blessing. And he
takes a step back. He said, according as he had
chosen us in Christ, He chose me. I didn't choose Him. He chose
me in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's when He
chose me. He chose me. He loved me. I didn't
love Him. I love Him because He loved me.
Herein is love, not that we love God. He loved us. He loved us
and chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
That's when God chose us. He chose people out of every
tribe, kindred, nation, tongue unto heaven to save them. God's
not trying to do anything. He's doing everything he wills
to do, everything he purposed to do, everything he plans to
do. Somebody said, well, God's got
a wonderful plan. I wish you'd help him work it.
He'll work it. He told Pharaoh, I raised you up to dump you in
the river for my glory. And he raised Moses up out of
the same household in Egypt to lead the children of Israel out
of Egypt. He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy, not because we were holy, but
that we should be holy, and that we should be without blame before
Him in love." Now, watch this. Watch verse 5. "...having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself."
Paul starts where he is. He said, God's blessed me. God's
blessed me with all these spiritual blessings, heavenly blessing
in Christ, eternal life, forgiveness, a righteousness, sanctification,
my name written in glory. Why? He chose to do it. He chose
to do it. He chose to do it before the
world began. He chose to make me holy without blame before
Him, having already predetermined. What does the word predestinated
mean? Well, take destination. What is my destination? My destination
is heaven. My destination is to be like
Christ. My destination is to be conformed
to His image. Well, when was all that decided?
When was that determined? Pre, predestinated, preordained,
predecided. That's exactly right. God did
it. And, you know, when you find the word predestination, it's
in the New Testament four times, probably five if you take the
Scripture in Peter, but four times. In Romans, eight twice. Here in Ephesians, one twice.
And every time it has to do with one thing. One thing, God Almighty
has predetermined and predestinated and pre-purposed that everybody
whom He saves is going to be like Christ. You read it. You
read it. Election has to do with people.
Predestination has to do with what those people are going to
be. That's exactly right. Watch Paul here in verse 3. God
has blessed me with all spiritual blessings according take a step
back, he chose me to be holy. Having, he takes another step
back, having already predetermined, predestinated all of us to be
conformed to the image of God's Son, to be adopted as a child
by Christ Jesus. Now watch this, according to
the good pleasure of his own will. Why'd God do this? He willed
to do it. You know, I hear people talk
about man's free will and man's will's in bondage. My will, your
will, free will, their will, this will, that will. Listen,
you know whose will's going to be done? God's will. According
to the good pleasure of his own will, who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. Daniel said, wrote in Daniel
4, he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of this earth. And John wrote in
John 1, 13, we're born not of the will of the flesh, not of
the will of man, we're born of God. And Paul wrote in Romans
9, it's not of him that willeth, it's not of him that runneth,
it's of God that showeth mercy. Well, what about my will? Christ
said, you will not come to me that you might have life. I'll
tell you what your will is. Your will is a will not. I will
not. Just like I read this and some
people say, I will not believe it. No, you will if God teaches
it to you. You will if God opens your eyes
and you see it. You will if God opens your heart
to believe it. You will if He makes you His child. You'll give
Him the glory because the next verse said He did all this to
the praise of the glory of His grace. You see it there? Verse
6, He did it to the praise of the glory of His grace, that
in the ages to come He might show His riches, His grace toward
us in Christ Jesus. Oh, bless God, Paul says. I'm
starting where I am. Bless God who's blessed me, according
as He chose me, having predestinated me to the adoption of a son,
according to the good pleasure of His own will. And He did it
all that He might be glorified, to the praise of the glory of
His grace. Glorify His grace. We're not
going to walk around heaven praising our preacher. and praise in our
denomination, and praise in our works, and praising our might,
and praising our strength, and praising our gifts, we're gonna
walk around here and praise in our God. Wherein He made us accepted
in the Beloved, everybody out here talks about who they accepted.
I accepted, I accepted. This doesn't say that. In fact,
I can't find it anywhere in the Word of God where a man accepts
Jesus. I find where Christ accepted
us. It says here, He made us accepted in the Beloved. He made
us accepted. He made us righteous so He could
accept us. He made us holy so He could accept
us. He made us without sin so that
we could be accepted. But He made us accepted. He accepted us in Christ. Now
watch these next verses and you'll find the work of the Son. He
said, He made us accepted in the Beloved. You see verse 6?
Verse 7 says, in whom? In whom? In Christ. The in whom is Christ. Christ
is the whom. In whom we have redemption. What
is redemption? Redemption's when something's
bought back. I take my watch down to the palm shop. I'm out
of money. I give it to the man. I say, I want to sell you my
watch. I want some money in return for
my watch. He said, I'll give you $50 for it. I said, well,
thank you. and I take it and it's his. He hangs it on the
shelf and puts a price tag on it. If I go back a week later
to redeem it, I'm going to have to pay what it cost. And I pay
him the 50 or the 55 or $60 and he gives me my watch. I just
redeemed my watch. How did I redeem it? I bought
it. I paid what was owing on it. I paid the debt, the outstanding
debt on that watch. And here we had a debt on us.
We were in debt to the law. We're in debt to the justice
of God. We're sinners, my friend. Don't take that lightly. God's
angry with the wicked. That's what the Word of God says,
but we've been told by all these silly preachers, oh, God's in
love with everybody. God's just a great big old white-headed
granddaddy who's in love with everybody. He's not mad at anybody,
and we're all going to heaven when we die. That's not so. God's
angry. The wrath of God resteth and
abideth upon the ungodly. Oh, we need to be redeemed. We
need to be redeemed through His blood. If God... Listen, how
lost is man? How lost are men? They're so
lost, it took the blood of God to cleanse them. They're so lost,
it took the death of the Son of God to save them. They're
so lost that Almighty God sent His own Son, the only one who
could possibly redeem us. That's how lost we are. We have
through His blood the forgiveness of sin, and that according to
the riches of His grace. It's not because we deserved
it. It's because God's rich in grace. Wherein He hath abounded
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, Christ wisely redeemed us. We
see in Him the wisdom and the power of God. And look at verse
9. And Jesus Christ made known unto
us the mystery of His will. Do you know the Gospels are mystery?
Oh, yes, it is. The Gospels are a mystery. It
has to be revealed. It's not learned by education. It comes
by revelation. But He, Jesus Christ, our prophet,
who reveals God, He said, No man knows the Father but the
Son, He to whom the Son will reveal Him. No man has seen God
at any time. The Only Begotten hath declared
Him. The only way you'll know God is to see Christ. The disciples
said, Well, show us the Father. He said, He that hath seen Me
hath seen the Father. He made known unto us the mystery
of God's will, according to the good pleasure which He purposed
in Himself." The purpose is in Himself. "...that in the dispensation
of the fullness of time He might gather together in one all things
in Christ, which are in heaven and earth." If you're not in
Christ, you won't be gathered. That gathering will be of those
in Christ. That's right, I told you. In
the ark, in the city of refuge, in the Redeemer, in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the Beloved, even in Him. He repeats it. He'll
gather together in that great day all things in Christ, which
are in heaven, which are on earth, even in Him. And in Christ, look
at verse 11, we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated,
being predestinated. We, in Christ, That's our inheritance. That's our life. That's our glory. That's our heaven. In Christ,
we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of God, who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. In Christ, we have redemption.
In Christ, we have a revelation of God's will. In Christ, we
have an inheritance, and all of it Look at verse 12, that
we should be to the praise of His glory. That we should be
to the praise, not of us, but of His glory who trusted in Christ. Now watch verse 13, you have
the Holy Spirit's ministry. In whom you trusted after you
heard the word of truth, not error, Now, some fellows just
popping off, but you heard the Word of truth straight from the
Word of God, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after
you believe, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit. Don't
be... I tell you this, don't be deceived
by these fellows selling the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Everybody
who's saved is baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy
Spirit. Everybody who knows Christ has the Holy Spirit. If any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His." Absolutely. And you believed and you were
sealed and never spoiled. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit.
And that Holy Spirit is your comforter, your teacher who abides
within you. And He's the earnest, He's the
token, He's the pledge, the pledge of your inheritance until the
redemption of that purchased possession. Watch the last line,
unto the praise. of His glory." There it is. If you want to listen to this
message again and digest it and study it, I want you to. I want
you to see if this is what God's saying. See if these things be
true. You write for it. I'll send it to you. Two dollars,
I'll send you this message and another. Here's the address.
Till next week, God bless you.

All Things In Christ

What does the Bible say about all things being in Christ?

How do we know predestination is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does it mean to be in Christ?

How can we be assured of our salvation?

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About Henry Mahan

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All Things In Christ

What does the Bible say about all things being in Christ?

How do we know predestination is true?

Why is grace important for Christians?

What does it mean to be in Christ?

How can we be assured of our salvation?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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