Now, I want you to open your
Bibles today to the book of Ephesians. I'm going to be speaking to you
from the first chapter of the book of Ephesians. Now, here's
my subject. What is it to trust Christ? What does it mean to trust the
Lord Jesus Christ? Have you ever read Ephesians
chapter 1? I want you to open your Bible with me. Will you
do that? Now, I'm going to read a text. verse 13, but the Lord
willing, I'm going back and pick up the preceding verses and talk
about what Paul is teaching here in Ephesians 1, but here's what
verse 13 says, "...in whom you also trusted after you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also
after that ye believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise. Now, no chapter in the Bible
more glorifies God in His redemptive grace and mercy than Ephesians
chapter 1. I wish all of you would read
it carefully, not only with me while I preach from this chapter,
but I'd love for you to read it later and ask the Spirit of
God to give you some understanding of what the Holy Spirit is teaching
in this first chapter of Ephesians. No chapter makes plainer that
salvation is of the Lord than Ephesians chapter 1. It shows
how that salvation is of God in its planning, in its execution,
in its application, in its sustaining power, in its ultimate perfection. From Alpha to Omega, salvation,
redemption is by the grace of God. And then no chapter in the
Bible presents in a clearer manner The work of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 1. The work of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Spirit in the redemption of the sinner.
And then notice this. No chapter in the Bible is so
full of Christology. Christology like Ephesians 1.
Listen to just some of the verses. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ. He hath chosen us in Christ. He hath adopted us by Christ. He hath accepted us in Christ. He hath redeemed us in and through
Christ. He will gather together all things
in Christ, and then our inheritance is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now take that chapter and look at it. Beginning with verse 3,
have you ever noticed this? beginning with verse 3 in Ephesians
chapter 1, and going all the way down through verse 14, there
are but three complete sentences. That's all. There are a lot of
commas and semicolons and colons, but only three definite sentences
from verse 3 all the way through verse 14. And all three of these
sentences from verse 3 to 14 end with practically the same
word. And those words are these, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. Now, verse 3 through 6,
that's the first sentence. There's one sentence in verse
3, 4, 5, and 6. And that one sentence, which
ends this way, to the praise of the glory of His grace, that
one sentence describes the Father's design and purpose in the salvation
of sinners. In other words, verse 3 through
verse 6. One sentence describes for us
the purpose and grace and mercy of the Heavenly Father in decreeing
and in purposing and planning the redemption of sinners. It
says in verse 3 that God the Father, the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, hath blessed us. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenlies. And then it says He chose us.
It's the Father that chose us. Yes, we choose God. We choose
Him because He chose us. We love Him because He loved
us. We seek Him because He sought
us. But He chose us. That's what
Paul says here in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 4. And then he says
that the Father predestinated us to be conformed to the image
of His Son. He predestinated us to the adoption
of children. The Father predetermined. He
determined beforehand. what we would be. He chose us
in Christ, He loved us in Christ, and He purposed for us to be
like Christ. And then it says He accepted
us. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Living God, the Holy,
Righteous, Eternal God, has accepted us. He has accepted us in Jesus
Christ. And the last verse, the last
line in verse 6 says, and all of this to the praise of the
glory of His grace." Now that's one sentence. You'll notice that
if you read Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 3 through 6 has to do
with the Father's purpose, and the Father's planning, and the
Father's decrees, and the Father's grace in the redemption of a
sinner. He chose us. He predestinated
us to be like Christ. He accepted us in the beloved.
Notice verse 7 through 12. Verse 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Several
verses there, but only one sentence. Only one sentence. And that one
sentence there, in verses 7 through 12, describes the blessed redeeming
work of the dear Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse
7, it tells us that Christ redeemed us. He redeemed us, and in Him,
and through Him, we have the forgiveness of our sins. All
of our sins are pardoned, paid for, and forgiven in Jesus Christ
our Lord, because He redeemed us. And then it says, He made
known unto us, the Lord Jesus Christ illuminated us, enlightened
us. He made known unto us the great
mysteries of the Father's will. The disciple said, Show us the
Father. He said, He that has seen me hath seen the Father.
He that hath heard me hath heard the Father. The words that I
speak are not my words, they're the words of him that sent me.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet who reveals the Father. He's the one who enlightens us.
We only know the Father as we know the Son. No man has seen
the Father at any time. The only begotten, the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. He hath revealed Him. So in this
sentence, from verse 7 through 12, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us, purchased our pardon, forgave us of our sins, enlightened and
illuminated us, and gave us an understanding of the mystery
of the Father's will, and then it says He enriched us, that
is, He bought back our inheritance. That inheritance which we lost
in Adam, that which was taken away from us because of the fall,
that and more was restored unto us by the Son. And you know how
that sentence ends? It ends this way, to the praise
of the glory of His grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Now here's the third sentence.
And as I told you in this first chapter of Ephesians, there's
no chapter in the Bible that which glorifies God in His redemptive
work, the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, quite like Ephesians 1. And there's
no chapter in the Bible that's so full of Christology and showing
us the way of redemption like Ephesians 1. And this third sentence
from verse 13 and 14, this third sentence has to do with the work
of the Holy Spirit, the regenerating, awakening, calling of the Holy
Spirit. Now, I just Rode down the highway
a little while ago and I saw a sign on the back of a car.
It says, honk if you worship one God and not three. Now we
don't worship three gods. The Bible doesn't teach three
gods. The Lord our God is one God. The Lord thy God is one
God. And yet God is manifested, him
manifested himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I can't
explain God. I just know that when God created
the world, He said, let us make man. Let us make man in our image. He wasn't talking to the angels.
He wasn't talking to some creature. God was describing Himself in
that way, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. And when He talked to Isaiah,
He said, who will go for us? Whom shall I send and who will
go for us? And our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was baptized,
The Son was on the earth, and the Father spoke from heaven,
said, This is my beloved Son. And the Holy Spirit descended
upon Him in the form of a dove. And John said in 1 John, There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Spirit. And our Lord told His disciples
to go and preach the gospel and baptize men in the name of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So I'm not going to conflict
in any way with the Word of God. I may conflict with what Man
thinks, or man's traditions. But the Bible talks about the
Father, that first sentence. He hath chosen us, and he hath
predestinated us, and he hath called us, and he hath redeemed
us, and the Son has saved us, and the Son has enlightened us
and enriched us, and here it says the Holy Spirit awakened
us. And the Holy Spirit regenerated
us, and the Holy Spirit called us. He gave us life. You have
be quickened who were dead in trespasses and sin. The Holy
Spirit quickened us. He gave us ears to hear. He gave
us eyes to behold the Lamb of God. He sealed us, it says there
in verse 13, in Jesus Christ, and He is our earnest. You know
what the word earnest means? It means a token. It means a
pledge. An engagement ring, which a boy
gives to a girl when he proposes marriage and she accepts him,
that's a token. That's an earnest. That's a pledge.
of their upcoming marriage. And the Holy Spirit is our earnest,
our pledge, our token till the day of fulfillment. Now notice
how that sentence ends, to the praise of the glory of his grace. When we talk about the Father's
decreeing and the Father's design and the Father's purpose and
plan, when we talk about the Son's becoming flesh and redeeming
us by his righteous life and by his sin offering and sacrifice
and the shedding of His blood, when we talk about the Holy Spirit
awakening and quickening sinners and calling them and bringing
them to faith in Christ, the grand design of the grace of
God in redemption as that all of us should be, should be to
the praise of the glory of His grace. 1 Corinthians 1.29 says
that no flesh should glory in His presence. To God be the glory,
all the glory. 1 Corinthians 1.31 says that,
"...as it is written, He that gloryeth, let him glory in the
Lord." Ephesians 2.7 says that, "...in the ages to come he might
show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us in Christ Jesus." Now listen again, and listen carefully. When Paul writes about the fathers
in verses 3 through 6, in that one sentence, When he writes
about the Father's purpose to save, see, salvation was born
in the will of the Father. It was born in the mind of God.
Salvation's source is the living God. And when we read about His
purpose to save, and His will to save, and His determination
to save, nothing is said about the sinner's response. Nothing
is said about the sinner's faith. You see, nothing in us motivated
the Father to love us. He loved us because He would.
Nothing in us motivated the Father to choose us. It's not because
He saw something in us that He didn't see in someone else, because
we were all sinners, we were all sons of Adam, we all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. Nothing in us. The reasons
were all found in God, in Himself, to manifest and to declare, to
reveal. and to give a release to His
love, God's love, for God so loved that He gave His Son. And
then when Paul writes about the redeeming work of Christ, how
that He redeemed us, and how that He justified us, and how
in Him we have forgiveness of sin, and how He enlightened us,
and how He enriched us, and how He illuminated us, nothing is
said about the sinner's faith, nothing is said about the sinner's
work, For he by himself purged our sins. He by himself. You see, the royal bath of mercy
in which black souls are washed white from their sins and wretchedness,
that royal bath of mercy was drawn only from the veins of
the Son of God. And no faith or works or merit
of any human being entered into that cleansing stream. And then
the banquet of mercy is served up by one host, the Lord of Glory. When God chose us and purposed
to save us, and when the Son came to redeem us, and to purchase
our redemption, and to forgive our sins, nothing is said about
the sinner's response, or his faith, or his merit, or his work,
or anything else. It's the gift of God. It's the
work of God. We are His workmanship in Christ
Jesus. We are a new creation created
by the hand of God. to the praise of His glory. But,
now listen to me, stay with me. When Paul writes of the Holy
Spirit's convicting work there in verse 13, 14, he said, he
talked about the Holy Spirit's convicting work and the Holy
Spirit's sealing and the Holy Spirit giving us ears to hear,
he said, you heard. And he said, you trusted. And he said, you believed. Now,
we were talking about the Father's purpose to save and the Father's
choosing. He didn't say anything about
you or me. But here, when we come to the Holy Spirit's work,
it says, you trusted and you heard and you believed. Now,
when the Holy Spirit calls, people hear His voice. When He effectually,
invincibly calls, then sinners hear. And when the Holy Spirit
reveals the gospel, Sinners, enlightened sinners, believe
it. And when the Holy Spirit is pleased to reveal Christ,
men trust Him. They trust Him. In whom you trusted
after you heard the Word of Truth. Not a false doctrine, not a cult.
The Word of Truth. You heard the truth. You see,
you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
What is truth? Christ is the truth. He said,
I am the way, the truth. and the light. And you trusted,
when? After you heard the word of truth.
You see, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall
be saved, but how shall they call on him in whom they have
not trusted or believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? They can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. So man got to hear, and then
he trust, in whom you trusted after you heard. You heard what? The gospel. You heard the gospel. You didn't hear religious tradition,
you heard the gospel. You didn't hear religious ritualism
and ordinances, you heard the gospel. The gospel of salvation. And after you heard it, you received
it, and you believed it, and you trusted Christ. Now here's
my question. What is it then to trust Christ?
It's by the Father's enabling power and design and purpose. It's through the Son's redeeming
work. and saving grace. And it's by the Holy Spirit's
convicting, regenerating, awakening ministry by which we hear and
through which we see. And because we hear the truth,
the gospel of our salvation, we believe and we trust the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, what is it to trust Christ? All right, number one, now listen
carefully. I'll give you about four things. Number one, to trust
Christ. is to rely, entirely rely, totally
rely on Him, on Him now, on Him, on Christ Himself, not just on
His Word, but on Him, on Him. The Apostle Paul said, I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded He's able to keep that
which I've committed unto Him against that day. It's not to
trust my faith. Salvation is not to trust my
experience. Salvation is not to trust my
decision. Salvation is not to trust my
doctrine, accurate or inaccurate. But salvation is to literally,
to literally depend upon and rest in and rely upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. For Colossians 2 said, in Him,
in Him, God didn't put His salvation in a church, He put it in Him.
He didn't put salvation in a mourner's bench or a baptismal pool or
in a sacrament. He put salvation in Him. In Him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in Him. So to trust Christ is to rest
in and rely upon and literally depend upon Him. as our righteousness,
sanctification, justification, acceptance with the Father and
all things. Paul said in Philippians 3, 3, we're the circumcision. He's talking about Israel. We're
real Israel. We're true Israel. We're the true Jew, of which
it can be said three things can be said. Number one, we worship
God in the Spirit, not in form and letter and orthodoxy and
tradition. We worship God in Spirit, in
the Spirit, from the heart. And we rejoice in Jesus Christ. We find all we need in Christ. We find every reason to rejoice
in Him, and we have no confidence in the flesh, no reliance on
past merit, no confidence in present resolutions, no hope
in future works. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. His oath, His covenant, His blood
support me. in the whelming flood, when all
around my soul gives way, He, He, then is all my hope and stay."
Charles Spurgeon once said this, if I'm trusting Christ as my
righteousness and sin offering before God, at all times, in
every way, I rest the entire weight of my soul's affairs on
Him alone, on Him alone. Looking at my sin, I trust Him. Looking at death and judgment,
I trust Him. Looking at heaven and hell, I
trust Him. And those who trust Him shall
never be ashamed. And I'm talking about it's a
Him. And don't you miss that now. Oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him, that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrection. To trust Christ is to trust Christ,
Him. Not His things, but Him. All right, secondly, to trust
Christ, is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in all his offices,
is to trust him in all his offices. The old timers used to preach
the scriptures in reference to our Lord's threefold office.
Most people don't know what we're talking about when we talk about
Christ's office work. He's prophet, priest, and king.
Moses was a prophet, but Moses wasn't a king or a priest. Melchizedek
was a priest, so was Aaron, but Aaron was never a king nor a
prophet. And David was a king, but he
wasn't a prophet or a priest. Those three offices have never
been vested in any one man but Christ. He is a prophet like
unto Moses. Hear him, God said. He is a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Trust him. He is a king forever
like David. Obey him. And to trust Christ
is to trust Christ as He is, not as we think He is, not as
we're told He is by some preacher. But it's to trust Him as He is.
How is He? Well, He's the eternal God. In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He's the creating Christ. All things were made
by Him. Without Him was not anything made that was made. He's the
incarnate Christ, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And you can't butcher that. You can't half it up. You can't
have Christ as a Savior unless He's the Lord. Because his being
the Savior is because he's the Lord. He's the God-man. And he's
the sovereign Christ. You can't have him any less.
He said, All authority is given unto me in heaven and earth.
I have all power over all flesh that I should give eternal life,
as many as thou hast given me. He's the covenant Christ. All
that my Father giveth me shall come to me, he said, and him
that cometh out in no wise cast out. He's the righteous Christ.
By his obedience, we're made righteous. There was no guile
or sin found in Him. He knew no sin. He's the crucified
Christ. I'm determined not to know anything
among you but Christ and Him crucified. He's the risen Christ. He's the ascended Christ. He's
the seated Christ at the right hand of God. Having finished
His work, He sat down. And the Father said, all His
enemies shall be made His footstool. He's the interceding Christ.
He ever liveth to make intercession for you. He's the coming Christ.
He said, if I go away, I'll come again and receive you unto myself.
Now that's to trust Christ. It's to trust Christ. As I said,
point number one, Him. Not it, Him. Not they, Him. Not an experience or faith or
a decision or a church, but Him. And the second is to trust Him
as He's revealed in the Word. No more, no less. Especially
no less, and that's what we've got today. We've got less. Some
have a sweet little Jesus boy, and some have a Jesus Christ
superstar, and some have a Jesus this, that, and the other, and
the Bible tells us who He is. And to trust Christ is to trust
Him in His true identity, as He's revealed in the Word of
God. All right? Thirdly, what is it to trust
Christ? To trust Christ leads to an open
identification with Christ, an open confession of Christ. The
Bible does not teach secret discipleship. Romans 1.16, Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed.
I'm not ashamed of it. In Mark 16, 15, our Lord told
His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature, and he that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned. In Romans
10, 9, and 10, the Scripture says, If thou shalt confess with
thy mouth Jesus to be Lord, to be Lord, not to be a doormat
or a fire escape, but to be Lord, that's who He is. If thou shalt
confess with thy mouth, Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine
heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation." Our Lord said, if
you're ashamed of me and my words in this sinful and adulterous
generation, I'll be ashamed of you when I come in the glory
and power of the holy angels of God. So to trust Christ, if
a man really believes Him and trusts Him, he'll confess Him. He'll identify with Him. He'll
be bold in His declaration that Christ Jesus is His Lord. He
won't hide it. And then fourthly, to trust Christ.
Now listen to me. It's to continue to trust Him.
It's not a fad. It's not try Jesus. It's not
do it today and forget it tomorrow. It's not in today and out tomorrow.
It's not up and down, in and out, warm and cold. It's to trust
Him at all times, at all seasons. in all ways to trust Him and
to keep on trusting Him. Colossians 1 says this, verse
21, And you have to be reconciled in the body of His flesh through
death, to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in His sight, if
you continue in the faith, and be not moved away from the hope
of the gospel. That's what it is to trust Christ. That's what it is. Now, here's
what I'd like for you to do. I'd like you to read that chapter
again. I'd like you to get this tape if you want it. I have this
message on a cassette tape. On the other side is a message
I'll bring next week from Romans 8, 31. But get this tape. It'll only cost you $2. It's
a $2 donation. That's what it cost us to prepare
and send them to you. And you write me, the address
will be given to you, and I'll send you the tape. Take your
Bible and study it. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. Until next week, may God bless
you, everyone.